Mommy Octopus

In my circle of friends, we have been talking about budgets, making ends meet, and how the heck to try and get a little ahead in the world.  I admit, it’s really hard, but it’s doable.  No matter what your income, the key is to not spend more than you make.  If you do, you are digging yourself a hole that is impossible to get out.  We like to plan for things ahead of time so we are prepared when the car breaks, when insurance comes due, when we want to take a vacation.  You can’t always predict a rainy day, but you know that they will eventually arrive and you will want to be prepared.

Every time my husband gets paid, which is every 2 weeks, we sit down together as a couple and figure out where we are telling the money to go.  That’s right, we tell our money where to go.

Off the top, we take care of our essential bills – house payment, water, electricity, etc.   Since are paid every other week, we estimate and divide our bills by 2 so we know how much to budget each paycheck.

Then comes more budgeting.  Write down every single category that you can think of for your family for the entire year.  We have the following categories:

• Tithe
• Savings
• Groceries
• Gas
• Pets
• Dining Out/Entertainment
• Home Maintenance
• Gifts
• Erin Allowance
• Chris Allowance
• Clothing
• Christmas
• Homeschool Materials
• Insurance
• Car Maintenance
• Vacation
• Other

After we have paid our bills, we allocate the rest of the money into each category.  For starters, we tithe to our church and also put 10% into savings.

You’ll notice we budget for things like Christmas, Insurance, Homeschool Materials, Vacation, Clothing, and Gifts.  These are all things that will happen throughout the year.  Every year Christmas arrives.  Every year a new school year arrives with homeschool materials needed.  Kids outgrow their clothes.  Car Maintenance is an essential. Insurance has to be paid.  Vacation may or may not happen.  We adjust our budget according to our plans that year.

I remember there was a time when I’d get an insurance bill and panic.  Where were we going to get the money to pay that rotten bill?!?!  After time, I realized, it’s not the bill’s fault, it was my poor planning.  I know it’s coming, so I might as well plan all year round so when it comes it doesn’t sting so much.

This doesn’t come easy, though.  It’s really hard to be sticking the money away for these things and taken an initial food budget or entertainment fund cut.  However, when the time rolls around and you have the money ready, you’ll be so thankful to not be eating only beans and rice and ramen noodles that month. 😉

Continue on down the list placing funds as needed.  Have a party coming up?  Up your food budget and take a cut elsewhere.  Lots of birthdays that month?  Up your gifting and lower something else.

Allow your categories to “roll-over” to the next pay period so you can continue saving.  For example, you know you need a new door in your house.  The $20 you can budget this paycheck isn’t going to make it.  Don’t give up.  The next month, add $20 more to that and now you have $40.  Continue building until you have what you need.  It’s not going to happen overnight but will happen.  This is another reason to continue putting the money in their categories.  Say you haven’t been using your car maintenance category for over a year.  You have $750 in car maintenance saved up.  Then something major breaks in your car.  It’s a whole lot easier to move forward when you know you may have most of it already saved up and waiting on that rainy day.

Now let’s talk about allowances.  No, I’m not talking about the kids, I’m talking about the adults.  My husband and I sit down and plan our budget every time and what we have decided together is that each paycheck we get an allowance.  We have decided on $20 per paycheck.  He gets $20 and I get $20.  We don’t ask each other where the money went, that is up to our discretion.  $20 pays for my mom’s night out with friends, haircuts, etc.  Many months I don’t even use my money and save it up for something special for myself.  Chris’ $20 pays for his breakfast with friends every other week, and more recently, he saved up his money and bought me some beautiful earrings for Mother’s Day!  $20 seems to work for us, and like I mentioned, many weeks we still have it to roll-over to the next month.

My top 5 tips for a successful budget:

1. Prepare for the rainy day BEFORE it arrives.
2. If you are married, work on the budget TOGETHER.
3. Learn to say NO, it’s not in the budget.
4. Be a good STEWARD of what you do have.
5. Do not SPEND more than what you make.

What other tips would you add that have worked for your family?

 

This is a sponsored post, written for Dixie Crystals.

 

Have you realized that Mother’s Day is this Sunday?  THIS one?  It’s already sneaking up on us!  If you’re panicking like I was, no need to fear!  I took about 5 minutes and made some homemade sugar scrub and then printed up the labels and DONE!  Easy as pie!

Over at Dixie Crystals Kids in the Kitchen website, you can find 24 different recipes for Dixie Crystals Sugar Scrubs.  Delicious flavors like Lemon Rosemary, Orange Dreamsicle, and Strawberry Cream.  I made the Lemon Brown Sugar Scrub recipe since I conveniently had all of those ingredients on hand.

Supplies Needed:

• 2 small jars (mason or other, 6-oz. works best) from a local craft store
• 2 – 2 1/2 cups Dixie Crystals Extra Fine Granulated or Dark Brown sugar (granulated sugar results in a more gentle scrub)
• 1/2 cup olive, coconut or canola oil
• 4 – 5 tablespoons lemon juice plus the zest of one lemon (optional)
• Vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Measure 2 – 2 1/2 cups of sugar into a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in olive oil.
3. Add lemon juice plus the zest of one lemon.
4. Add a few drops of vanilla extract to sweeten the scent.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the jars.
6. Add a label, some ribbon for decoration, and a small wooden spoon for an added touch.

Then you are all ready for gift giving!  See how easy that was?  Awesome homemade gifts in minutes!  Perfect for Mother’s Day this weekend or Teacher Appreciation week!

Be sure to check out all the sweet smelling sugar scrubs over on the Dixie Crystals website to make your own.  You can also print FREE Sugar Scrub Labels while you’re there!  Remember all ingredients are perishable, so it is recommended to use between 4-6 weeks.  To use, simply apply some on your hands and rub in, allowing the sugar and oils to work their magic!  Then rinse!  Nice and smooth hands are heading your way.