When we started our plan back at the first of the year, we talked about whether to keep on allowing our personal allowances as part of our budget. We decided to take it one month at a time and as it turned out we went several months without them, but now we fill like it's time to reinstate them.
We have felt strongly all throughout this year that neither of us wanted to get to the point in our hunkering down journey that we started resenting what we were doing. We both felt like that having our own personal 'pocket money' would keep us from getting to that point and were perfectly willing to forgo it as long as we were okay mentally with it.
Since we've made better progress than we thought would be possible this year, we've mutually decided that we can go back to having this luxury. Does this mean we are letting up in all areas, absolutely not! It simply means what it says, we are choosing to reinstate our personal allowances. Nothing more and nothing less.
We're still working toward being able to pay a double payment this month on our targeted debt. If all continues to go as it has, we should be able to do it.
That's where we're at in our journey, taking care of the mental aspect of reaching our goals is important to us and that's what we're making a priority right now.
That's it for this week, what about you, how did your week go and what financial goals are you working toward?
until next time,
mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
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It was our daughter's wedding last Saturday, which was wonderful. We had a few days away and are now 'back in the old routine' at home. Having done our bit in helping to cover the wedding costs we are now regrouping and deciding what our next goal should be.
ReplyDeleteTracy, that way of thinking makes financial goals sustainable long term, doesn't it? We would have done the same thing in regard to the wedding costs.
DeleteDo you have a printed sheet you use or do you use an online program to help you budget? I am trying to get a better grip on mine for the rest of the year and the online program I am using is due for renewal. I am not really that happy with it and i am wondering if I need more of the decipline to just do it on paper. But I haven't a clue how to do that and the ones I have found online, are not what I am looking for. Help! lol. Any advice is much welcomed!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I use good ole paper and pen. I have a 3-ring binder notebook with tab dividers for each month that houses everything in one place including any paperwork involved with monthly expenses such as power bill, etc. I have a page protector inside the notebook that I slide the bills in for safe keeping until it's time to pay them.
DeleteI make a list of each source of income and assign expenses and or savings to each source. When each income source comes in and I've taken care of the expenses and or savings assigned to it, I mark it off the list. At the end of the month, I make a new list for the new month of income sources and expenses/savings assigned to it and repeat. It's simple and I can see at a glance where I'm at and what needs to be done. It also allows me the flexibility of taking one month at a time and moving things around for the next if I need too. I hope this makes sense.
I really do try to keep things simple and after having tried multiple budgeting methods, I find this one works best for us.
Sounds awesome. I'm going to try this.
DeleteYour progress is wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteLee Ann, thank you! We've worked hard to accomplish our goals!
DeleteYou two are doing great!
ReplyDeleteWe don' know at all how to plan for all the hurricane repairs or what much of it will cost yet. I don't know if grocery prices have skyrocketed everywhere or just here because of the hurricane but ouch. We also have to just buy what we can find since there are still supply issues. I am thankful that I had a bunch of money left in last month's budget and a well stocked pantry.
Lana, for us, when we've gone through similar hurricane expenses, we fell back on our emergency fund when our budget was exhausted. Then we worked hard to replenish that fund after it was over. Living a prepared lifestyle helps head off some of those expenses. It's just hard, mentally and physically and it's not over, overnight!
DeletePatsy well done and it is good to have family financial counselling sessions by sitting down with one another and working out a finacial plan ahead as a couple. Also a lot of financial advisors do recommend you keep a little aside for personal allowances to keep us on track so we don't go on massive splurges and blow the good progress we have made.
ReplyDeleteWe often do that in our home, and although I do the home finances, I also sit down regularly with DH to let him know how we are progressing.
This past fortnight was about regrouping and going over pay rises we have got just recently and also the increase in bill/everyday living costs that we are seeing and in areas like groceries, clothing, insurances (life, cars, trailer and home and contents), land and water rates. I worked out all of these expenses on bills we pay had gone up near on 17% over the past year which is an eye opener for sure :o. We like to keep a years worth of bill money in advance in a high interest savings account which earns bank interest so after working things out I topped that account up another just over $2000 to cover the increases in the 6 and 12 monthly bills and the bonus is the bank interest pays for some of our bills too.
We sat down and redid our yearly budget to account for bill increases and we now feel like we are more on track to reach our savings goals of replacing the money spent previously on a new car, ride on and some household items we needed to buy. Currently we have enough money in cash to pay for our soil for our newly revamped 90cm high garden beds and will work on the remaining money to save for money spent previously.
I am glad we know have a better picture of where we are financially now and can move forward with more confidence in saving.
Hoping everyone is making progress towards their hunkering down goals.
Lorna.
Lorna, that's where we're at with our personal allowances. Being proactive to head off spending binges is an important part of our financial goals.
DeleteYou all are doing well, and the next step in our financial planning is do what you are doing by looking ahead to next year and planning accordingly.
I've been adjusting our budget monthly with increases in routine bills (insurances, taxes, monthly items that sort of thing) but this month I'm beginning my annual 'summing up' research. This is where I take bills, we don't track on a month-by-month basis such as groceries, electric, gasoline, prescriptions, over the counter needs, personal care items, paper and cleaning products and then I determine what we'll need to set aside each month to meet next year's needs. In the past I've been fairly close in, and I've eliminated loads of things, but things continue to rise in cost. I've been certain I was getting the best price by continually checking and switching routine items we buy and all that sort of thing, but I think that this year will be an eye opener for me. I know that things aren't jiving with what I've budgeted...Then I'll assess what changes we need to make, what more I can eliminate, etc.
ReplyDeleteI do have some financial goals for the year ahead and that will mean I will have to make changes of some sort to accommodate that.
Terri, it's shocking to see on paper just how much things we need, not want, but need have increased in price this year, isn't it. Our next step is to do just that, put it down in writing and adjust our budgeting accordingly.
Delete