With August just around the corner, my thoughts have turned to budgeting. August is always an expensive time of year for us. During the summer I typically work for pay less (though it doesn’t feel like it!!) and our reserves are slowly dwindling by the time August roles around. On top of less cash coming in, August also means that the second payment of our house taxes is coming due, it’s time to pay the first installment of the kiddos tuition for the year, and all of the typical back-to-school needs are added to my Target list. August is always a month that puts our typical budget to shame. Not to mention we are planning to take our family to the most expensive happiest place on earth in September…
I assume that most of you who read here also worry about budgeting from time to time and making sure that you’re spending and saving the right amount both for the short-term (back-to-school) and the long-term (college – eek!). I’ll be the first to admit that one reason I’ve tried my best to maintain my career is because I want to be sure that we have what we need financially in the future. I assume that many of you are in this position too. It isn’t that I don’t like my job — I do — and I would probably still work even if we were independently wealthy — but if money wasn’t a factor, my work would definitely be structured differently and I wouldn’t fret so much over this budgeting.
It’s been just over a year since I began to seriously budget plan for our family. While it still isn’t as strict or regimented as Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, monitoring where our money goes and being more accountable for our spending has been a positive. Creating a budget is not the most exciting activity, but I think it is vital — especially for working moms who want to ensure that the money they are working so hard for is being put to good use.
I utilize the Mint.com website and app religiously to help make the budgeting process easier. Both Mike and I can access the app from our phones and know immediately how much money we have available and where it is going for the month. It took a bit of time to setup all of our accounts on Mint, but it has been well worth it to have access to all of our financial information in one place and so rapidly.
Utilizing the app has helped me to see where our money is going more clearly and to be more mindful of how we are spending our hard earned cash. Food and groceries are definitely a weakness for us! And so is children’s clothing…
Do any of you have any tips for establishing a budget? What do you do to budget your money?
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It sounds like you are doing all of the right things. My husband and I met with a financial planner a few years ago to discuss our long-term and short-term goals so we could plan accordingly and make sure we are setting aside the right amount of funds for everything. It never feels like enough, but we’re ticking away at everything and it makes me feel good that we are somewhat organized. We also always make sure to go grocery shopping with a list and plan our meals out for the week. Still, we do seem to spend an insane amount of money on groceries! And Target is definitely a weakness! Big fan of Mint.com as well.
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Meeting with a financial planner is definitely important. We set up several funds – IRA, mutual, etc. and have the money taken out before we even realize it’s there. I think this is especially important for me as with my cobbled together work I don’t have a pension or retirement plan minus the five years I have from teaching at a traditional high school. Having all of that taken out before we see it is definitely an important part of our budgeting process and planning for the future. Great point!!
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I just told my Sis the other day that I think August is more expensive than December! We love mint.com too, it’s been worth the set up time!
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August is definitely pricier!!
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It sounds like you are doing the right things – budgeting, using mint.com, etc. To save us money on food, I try to meal plan, grocery shop with a list and take a few coupons with me for things we need. This past year I added a few different savings accounts – one for kid stuff like clothes or sports supplies that come up throughout the year and another account for gifts. I figure we won’t miss the money per pay check if it’s been budgeted instead of shocking our budget later. We use any expense checks or bonus money and toss into the “summer fund” for random, fun things throughout the year – day trips, summer ice cream treats, etc.
My husband and I actually have his-hers-ours accounts which help us not fight about money. If he wants to spend his money on eating out for lunch or if I want to splurge on a cute new outfit for retail therapy, we can’t get mad at each other.
This is what works for us, but I feel like there is always room for improvement. We haven’t taken any major vacations since E was born, but I would love to hear how you budgeted for your trip. Hopefully after we get one of my student loans paid off, it is something we can look into.
We originally planned the trip in late February (and we knew before that it was something we were wanting to do soon) so we’ve been setting aside a bit of money every month. I also applied for the Disney Rewards Visa Card that allows 6 months of 0% APY on Disney Vacations so that gives us a bit more time to pay for the total amount. (Our balance was just due a few days ago – 50 days pre-trip. Before that we were only required to pay the $200 deposit on the reservation.)
We are also doing several things to make the trip less expensive overall such as going in the off-season when they offer free dining. We will be pulling the kids from preschool for a week, but I think that’s okay. On top of the free dining we are ordering groceries for our room so we can have quick and easy breakfast, snacks, and drinks. I’m also ordering several “souvenier” type items ahead of time on sale from the Disney store that I’ll pack and take along with us on our trip. I’m sure we will still fall prey to some of the expensive items in the stores, but hopefully having a few other little gift type items throughout the vacation will help a bit.
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