Matt and I have spent many hours in the past two days talking about our finances. What a drag, right?
Financial speak and I have not always had the most fruitful of relationships. Let me put it to you this way... I consider myself to be a pretty good student, yet found Family Financial Management at Tech to be one of the most difficult courses of my undergrad career. Not kidding. Money market mutual funds, compounding interest, blah blah blah... Maybe it had something to do with it being on a Friday morning, too...
The dreadful course aside, I finally found the book at Barnes and Noble that is speaking to me in all the right ways. It is called Shoo, Jimmy Choo: The Modern Girl's Guide to Spending Less and Saving More by Catey Hill. This book gives easy to understand instructions for those of us who didn't major in finance on how to lessen/eliminate debt, save money and stay our fabulous selves. It emphasizes the importance of giving yourself little allowances in spending. However, it also helps you identify why you spend and seeks to teach you how to sacrifice a little.
Why buy this book?
Because, I'm sorry, I'm not scrimping on skin care and drinks out. But at the same time, it is very important to my family of two to start growing, rather than just sustaining ourselves pay period to pay period.
So I put my big girl panties on and made my first real budget with my husband. $100/month of fun money... do you think I can do it?
XOXO,
Aud
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I think you can! I'm not so sure about myself..blah.
ReplyDeleteyou can do it! you can do it! Does this mean no more random trips to TJ though? Oh, TJ...How I love you. I'm trying to do better, too, but I find that I set myself a "fun money" budget and then never actually keep track. Do you/the book have a good tip for keeping track of your spending? Also...I bargain with myself and say, "I'll spend extra this month but will take it out for next month." YEAH. RIGHT.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you chose to post on this topic because I, too, have been focusing greatly on financial issues the past couple days. I just spent this past Saturday night figuring out our family budget - what a fun way to spend Saturday night, right? But, I also realized that we could only allow $100 of "fun money" per month - so we can hold each other accountable! Whenever you're tempted...call me and I'll be there to talk to you out of it! :) :)
ReplyDeleteTJ trips will be less frequent.. but I also have a home improvement budget separate from my fun money budget where I can spend $50/month buying paint/landscaping so I hope that will help. Shel, I find Quicken to be a good way to track expenses. I never used to write anything down until Matt made me put it on my laptop a few months ago. It also makes pie charts of where you're spending, as well.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, good to know I am not alone in my severe cutbacks. I look at it this way- $25/week. :-)