Our Budgeting System

 

Our budgeting system really works for our family.  We learned what we learned from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class.  That was the best investment we have EVER made!  I highly recommend that everyone take this class.

 



 

The first step in coming up with a budget is to create a monthly cash flow plan.  You can find a template for this on Dave Ramsey's site.  The idea is that you plan out where every penny of your money goes each month - - it's called a zero-based budget.  When you get to the end of the budget for the month, you should have $0 left over.  That's okay, because you budget in savings.

Figure out what all of your bills for the month total to, using Dave Ramsey's form.  This gives you a great base for your budget.

We use the Allocated Spending Plan each week to move our money around between accounts.  This form was given to us when we took FPU, and it's not available online for free.  What it does is it breaks down all of the items in your monthly cash flow plan, and gives you space to decide when you'll make each payment during the month.  We have it all laid out so that we pay all of our bills on time.

Each week after we get paid, I write out on a separate sheet of paper what money is going in which account.  Then I make our transfers, since all of our paychecks are automatically deposited into the same account.

Hubby's checking is for most of our bills.  Internet, Netflix (which is our replacement for cable), Electric, etc. are automatically withdrawn from his account, so I leave those amounts in his account.

My checking is for any checks that we write.  It's the only account we have a checkbook for.  Out of that account comes tithe, Compassion, student loan payments, and car payments come out of that one.

My savings account is our emergency fund.  His savings is our short-term savings.

Notice the "IOU" in Toiletries - - we borrowed for babysitter, so the next time there is
budgeted money for a babysitter, we will put it in toiletries.

We take out cash for household expenses, which works SO well for us!  It's called the envelope system, and it's wonderful.  Instead of us both using our debit cards to make purchases like groceries, coffee, gas, and other expenses, we have cash set aside for each individual category.  It keeps us on budget.

The categories we budget for in our envelope system are:
Babysitter
Laundry
Gifts
Toiletries
Gas
Groceries
Baby Supplies
Date
Repairs

Happy Budgeting!

Giving a Meal

When I first signed up to bring a meal to a family in need, I really didn't know what I was doing.  All I knew was that I wanted to help!  After the Peanut was born, though, several people brought meals to me, which really helped me see the best ways to do it.  I thought I'd share some suggestions here, in case you're wanting to help out a friend by bringing them a meal!

Meals are a great gift for people who are going through a difficult time (death of a family member, someone in the hospital, etc.) or who are facing a major life change (having a baby, for example).  It's a wonderful way to bless someone!  And it's such a blessing to give someone a meal.

Here are my suggestions when bringing someone a meal {and then I'll give you an example of a meal I gave - - you can copy mine or make your own!}:

Know about any allergies or dietary restrictions
It would be terrible to make a meatloaf for a vegetarian, or tuna noodle casserole for someone who doesn't like fish!  Find out if there are any allergies or other dietary restriction in the family before you plan your meal.  It will save everyone a lot of grief.

Be on time
...and coordinate a time!  Find out when the family usually eats dinner, and have the meal to them on time.  If it's something they'll have to pop in the oven (which I recommend), make sure they have enough time to preheat the oven and bake your meal before their normal meal time.  If you are running late, call and let them know when you'll be there so they don't have the little ones strapped into their high chairs for 30 minutes promising them food that is coming (yes, this has happened to me!).  If you are notoriously a late person, you could always deliver a meal early to go into the fridge or freezer for that evening or another day!

Include all of the food groups
Grain, Meat, Veggie, Fruit, and of course a dessert!

Double what you're making for your family
This is the best way I've found to give someone a meal.  Make double of what you're making for your family, and bring it over before dinner time (or the next day, if it'll keep).  It's so much easier than making an extra meal on top of what you are eating!

The meal I most recently gifted was ziti, salad, bread, and brownies for a family of 4 plus an infant.  I made a large ziti for their family (9X13), which I actually ended up thinking might have been a little too much food for them, and a smaller one for us (8X8).  I have shared the recipes for the ziti and the brownies before.  A bagged salad and a pre-sliced loaf of bread made this meal complete!

I was also sure to label everything that I made - - and I wrote instructions on the ziti of how to bake.

 

Then I bagged everything up (the ziti didn't fit) and headed over!  Notice everything was in containers that nobody would expect to have to return.  Not even cheap tupperware - - it gives a new mother or someone going through a tough time an extra step: dishes.  Ideally, if they wanted to, they could bake this, use paper or plastic dishes and silverware and not have any clean-up afterwards!

 

There you have it!  Happy giving!