Today I watched video two of the Financial Renovation Free Mini Course that I started January 1st. See this post here.

I really liked today’s video. It really helped me to look at my budget in a different way.

She addressed the exact issue that keeps my budget from working which is those pesky Miscellaneous and Unexpected expenses. The solution is to have a Miscellaneous Budget Amount set (mine will be $120) for things like office supplies, sales at Michaels, or an unexpected Vet appointment. Then at the end of the month, as I plan for the following month, I will look at what lies ahead and budget those things in like birthdays, outings, dues & subscriptions.

She also talks about prioritizing budgets like 1) Non negotiable: for me that would be mortgage, insurances, utilities. 2) Big expenses throughout the year planned or unplanned: Christmas, Vacation,and for us Homeschooling Curriculum. 3) Monthly Bills that are adjustable: pocket money, entertainment. 4) Then finally, Month-by-Month Category. This month for example we have 4 birthdays in our extended family but zero in February so I will need a birthday budget this month but not next month.

I re-did my budget and color coded each line to fit the above categories.

Oh, and she also encouraged us to do a Financial Bucket List with our spouse. I am hoping to to be able to do that at the end of this month along with our February Financial Planning.

I am excited for day 3 video!

Ligia

Happy New Year!

I just finished watching the first video in the Financial Renovation Mini Course. At first I thought “oh boy, another budget video” I’ve been working off a budget for a long time, so that has not been an issue. However, I did learn something new that I really haven’t been doing and plan to implement. I tend to write a budget that is suppose to fit every month. I am realizing, though, that maybe that is my problem. I need to individualize each month as it comes.

For example, I have a budge line for “kids activities” which includes karate and piano. Karate is every month but piano is paid every other month. I usually write half of the piano amount into the budget. But the problem is, if it’s in the account it gets spent. So instead of doing that, I will only budget what I need each month. So next month, for example, I will need to budget for both and have to cut costs somewhere else to pay both things.

I’m thinking that I’ll have a general budget, kind of what I’ve already done and then a customized monthly budget.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s video will be about.

Really, I can’t wait to see what 2016 will be about! I am hoping to have financial peace, a healthy family, and a clean home!

Ligia

I am always slightly “shocked” when an unexpected bill shows up on our statement messing with our already tight budget. You know those “bills” like the AAA yearly membership or the Costco Annual Renewal Membership.

I made a list of every subscription/yearly due bill that we have and divided it by 12. This is the amount that needs to be saved into a miscellaneous Irregular bill account so I am not without.

I used a blank sheet of paper and went through all our accounts and listed them by month:

Thrive Market (I am actually just starting this one) $59

Consumer Reports $20

Inshape $35

Amazon Prime $99

AAA $90

Costco $110

Dropbox $90

Lifestyle Perks $69

Credit Card Fee $95

Learning Ally $89

Barnes & Nobles Membership $25 (very worth it)

As you can see, they easily add up and sneak up.  By adding them all up I can see that I need $60 a month in our budget to cover these expenses.  Now there is a few that I might be able to bring down or get rid of, but for the most part, I think this is pretty much the list. I will be keeping this list handy just in case I missed any and need to readjust my numbers.

Next step includes going through all my Irregular Bills and coming up with a monthly amount to cover all those irregular bills like car maintenance, home maintenance, etc. I have done this before, so I have a skeleton to work from. This subscription/membership amount will be part of that magic “amount” that I need to set aside for Irregular bills.

I have also signed up to participate in a course called The Financial Renovation by I am that Lady. It starts in January. Check it out here.

Ligia