I have thinking about this for quite awhile now. What is the better way to go?
I can "justify" both ways. An emergency fund is a great thing to have. If something goes wrong with your home or car, you have this as a back-up. Or, as is our situation, one partner's hours are cut at work, you have a back up until things settle down.
On the other hand, paying off debt is huge. It's not paying 19% monthly interest; it's not having that weight hanging over your head. It's having the freedom to use the credit card in case of emergencies and then pay it off.
What are your thoughts on this one?
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Time to Reorganize
I am an organization person - not that you can tell by my house. I love to rethink and reorganize things around me. The beginning of something like a season or year is when I love to do it the most.
That being said, I been thinking about reorganizing my YNAB categories to see if this will help me budget even more. My categories currently look like this:
I have been using YNAB for about a year and I really enjoy it. At the beginning of using it, this is similar to their preset categories. I have used it for the last 11 months and now I think it's time for a change. This is the proposed changes:
As you can see, I have broken the categories into Expenses on the 1-14 and 15-30 of the month. I think this is going to help me with tracking. I am curious to see, though, if the double sub-categories are going to work or not. That's one of the other great things about YNAB, you adjust as you go along - which happens to be Rule 3: Roll with the Punches.
This category set up would be an ideal setting if you are paid on the 1st and 15th of every month - which my husband is. I am paid every 2 weeks so I will just add mine in as they come up.
For those of you reading this who are not familiar with the YNAB principles, they are pretty simple: put in your paycheck every time you get paid then give every dollar a job - what does my money need to do before I get paid next (Rule 1).
The 2nd rule is Save for a Rainy Day - which you can see in the above pictures. I will admit, we are not very good at this one yet. I am still wrapping my head around not looking at my bank webiste, seeing there is money in there and want to spend it - hence the title of the blog. I have really good intentions every month but fail - hey, it's a process, right?
The 3rd rule, as I mentioned earlier, is Roll with the Punches. Nothing about YNAB is set in stone. You personalize and adjust as you need to. I have used other software and it is set up just the way it is. You can make minor changes but not like this. The other part of this rule is YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT - another thing I am working on. I want to put everything in and have it work perfectly... yup, doesn't happen. There are adjustments made all the time.
The 4th rule is Live on Last Month's Income. I think my hubby and I are starting to do that more than we think. We started Dave Ramsey's baby steps as well by saving $1000 emergency fund. We were actually able to double that in the last month which was good timing for us. We may need to truly use it as an emergency. If, Lord willing, we do not need to use it in an emergency, we are 1/4 of the way to living on last month's income. Now, we have it set aside in a different account. As I said earlier, I cannot see money sitting in our joint account and not want to spend it.
I will keep you posted in week or two as to how the new categories are going.
That being said, I been thinking about reorganizing my YNAB categories to see if this will help me budget even more. My categories currently look like this:
As you can see, I have broken the categories into Expenses on the 1-14 and 15-30 of the month. I think this is going to help me with tracking. I am curious to see, though, if the double sub-categories are going to work or not. That's one of the other great things about YNAB, you adjust as you go along - which happens to be Rule 3: Roll with the Punches.
This category set up would be an ideal setting if you are paid on the 1st and 15th of every month - which my husband is. I am paid every 2 weeks so I will just add mine in as they come up.
For those of you reading this who are not familiar with the YNAB principles, they are pretty simple: put in your paycheck every time you get paid then give every dollar a job - what does my money need to do before I get paid next (Rule 1).
The 2nd rule is Save for a Rainy Day - which you can see in the above pictures. I will admit, we are not very good at this one yet. I am still wrapping my head around not looking at my bank webiste, seeing there is money in there and want to spend it - hence the title of the blog. I have really good intentions every month but fail - hey, it's a process, right?
The 3rd rule, as I mentioned earlier, is Roll with the Punches. Nothing about YNAB is set in stone. You personalize and adjust as you need to. I have used other software and it is set up just the way it is. You can make minor changes but not like this. The other part of this rule is YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT - another thing I am working on. I want to put everything in and have it work perfectly... yup, doesn't happen. There are adjustments made all the time.
The 4th rule is Live on Last Month's Income. I think my hubby and I are starting to do that more than we think. We started Dave Ramsey's baby steps as well by saving $1000 emergency fund. We were actually able to double that in the last month which was good timing for us. We may need to truly use it as an emergency. If, Lord willing, we do not need to use it in an emergency, we are 1/4 of the way to living on last month's income. Now, we have it set aside in a different account. As I said earlier, I cannot see money sitting in our joint account and not want to spend it.
I will keep you posted in week or two as to how the new categories are going.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Thankfulness
We have come to a point in our financial journey where we are back on track - for the most part. Our summer vacation, which we did not budget for, was our down fall. We had a lot of fun but used our credit card to finance it all. Then when we returned, we had a few set backs. We chose to use our credit card for gas and groceries until we could get back into the "black".
I know all of the die-hard Dave Ramsey fans are telling us that we should have cut them up long ago, and they are right - to point. Although we used our credit cards, they also helped us get to a point where we can live on cash again. Yes, credit card debt gets a lot of people in trouble but it also helps get people out. I think there needs to be discipline when it comes to anything.
The other thing we have done to get back on track is around food. We went "shopping" in our freezer one week and found an entire weeks worth of meals frozen. That really did not shock us but made us realize that keeping track of what we have in our home already is part of stewardship.
We have also started freezer cooking. This also helps with how busy we are with both working full-time. It is a large upfront cost but well worth it. We made 18 meals from www.whoneedsacape.com around Canadian Thanksgiving (mid October). Near the beginning of December, we were still finishing them up. We did not use them on Mondays (we have our Bible study group and bring something separate) or on the weekends. We have done a second batch with 40 meals. They have saved many nights. Prep the food in freezer bags, take them out the night before, throw it in the slow cooker in the morning and supper is done when you get home. It sure has saved us from eating out or unhealthy on many of those nights. Twice a year we also buy 1/4 beef from a farmer in Saskatchewan. I am proud to say we did budget for that.
It is now Christmas and we have used our credit cards for our shopping. It is now maxed out and we have made a plan to pay it off in the next year. Mark from YNAB posted a blog post a few weeks ago about setting a REALISTIC goal for the next year. We have done that and I believe we have a good plan going forward. Having goals is not something we are very good at but it is a promise we have made to each for the coming year.
We may also be facing a challenge. My husband is a contract technical writer and he was just informed that his current position, where he has been for a year, will be reducing his hours to two days a week in 2014. He has been applying but has not been offered a new contract. We have also planned, or started to plan, for that. It is something we should have planned for months ago.
This year, or almost full year, of using YNAB and taking a good look at our finances has been very eye-opening. We are very, very thankful for all we have talked about and learned. Here's to 2014 and more improvements in our financial journey.
We have also started freezer cooking. This also helps with how busy we are with both working full-time. It is a large upfront cost but well worth it. We made 18 meals from www.whoneedsacape.com around Canadian Thanksgiving (mid October). Near the beginning of December, we were still finishing them up. We did not use them on Mondays (we have our Bible study group and bring something separate) or on the weekends. We have done a second batch with 40 meals. They have saved many nights. Prep the food in freezer bags, take them out the night before, throw it in the slow cooker in the morning and supper is done when you get home. It sure has saved us from eating out or unhealthy on many of those nights. Twice a year we also buy 1/4 beef from a farmer in Saskatchewan. I am proud to say we did budget for that.
It is now Christmas and we have used our credit cards for our shopping. It is now maxed out and we have made a plan to pay it off in the next year. Mark from YNAB posted a blog post a few weeks ago about setting a REALISTIC goal for the next year. We have done that and I believe we have a good plan going forward. Having goals is not something we are very good at but it is a promise we have made to each for the coming year.
We may also be facing a challenge. My husband is a contract technical writer and he was just informed that his current position, where he has been for a year, will be reducing his hours to two days a week in 2014. He has been applying but has not been offered a new contract. We have also planned, or started to plan, for that. It is something we should have planned for months ago.
This year, or almost full year, of using YNAB and taking a good look at our finances has been very eye-opening. We are very, very thankful for all we have talked about and learned. Here's to 2014 and more improvements in our financial journey.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
We're in the BLACK... for a couple of days
Wow! It has been a challenging month! Finally "manning" up and looking at our budget and where we are financially has been difficult.
We have spent a lot of money this month on bank fees. Our bank charges $5/day for overdraft - and unfortunately, we have been in it a lot this month. It has taught us, though, how important it is to try and stay where we are.
How have we climbed out? As I said using our overdraft a bit, paying minimums on credit cards, buying minimal groceries, keeping up on our bills, and eating what food is already in the house. If you are struggling, I challenge you: look in your freezer and cupboards. What is already there? Do you have leftovers that you have stored away for a "rainy" day? This is the time to use them. If you are not making a list when you buy groceries... DO IT! That will save you from buying more than you need. Those are a couple of things that we did and it has definitely helped a lot.
We won't be completely out of the red for a few days but it is definitely looking brighter!
Monday, September 16, 2013
Impossible... Or Not!
I was reading today on my friend Stephanie Warnock's blog - www.faithhasnolimit.blogspot.com- and she has a post about contentment.
I started to journal about that and I ended up thinking about how it feels impossible for us to be out of debt. That lead me to the story of Mary and Gabriel in Luke 1:37. That verse reminds me that nothing is impossible with God - even our finances.
You see, I want everything NOW. I hate the word process! I don't want this to be a process, I want it to be instant. I want instant gratification - just like when I spent the money. That is not how this works though. It is a process. It is learning discipline - another word I do not like.
We will go through this though. We will get through it. We will be debt free... Someday.
Here's to the process... Sigh!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Slacking Off
It has been a very long time since I have written anything on our blog. I have thought of it many times but it has not happened. So what's going on, you might ask...
Budgeting is hard work and it SUCKS at times. We were just hanging out thinking this budgeting thing was easy. Well it's not. I was thinking "I know this" and my husband admittedly was burying his head in the sand.
Then I got into two fender benders - both my fault - and we had to rent a car AND pay for the deductibles on our insurance. For all of that, we did not budget and pulled out our MasterCard again. I was also buying a few things online with my Visa. In other words, racking up the credit card debt again. Then we went on vacation - which we did not budget for and put it all on plastic again.
It seems like we have fallen back into our old patterns. We are now in our overdraft for a few months, temporarily, and we have credit card debt to pay too.
That is very difficult, and a bit depressing, to admit. We were both bound and determined this year was going to be different - and it was for a few months. Then "unexpected" things caught us off guard. I don't know if we should have used our emergency fund for the repairs and then built it back up. We also had an $8000 payroll debt that we had to get a loan out for and pay back - which we have.
It just seems like we are behind the 8-ball again. We have committed to each other that we are going to "meet" once a week to discuss our budget. We have not done that - and that was wrong. If you are in a relationship, discussing your money issues together is vitally important, in my opinion. If you can't discuss your finances with that person then who can you?
So, our new plan is to meet once a week, get back into the "You Need A Budget" and "Dave Ramsey" podcasts and bogs. As they say in the YNAB world, it's time for a Fresh Start.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Stewardship
Stewardship:
1. the position and duties of a steward, a person who acts as the surrogate of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate, etc.
2. the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving
From Dictionary.com
I have been contemplating this topic for a couple of weeks now. Being raised in an evangelical church all of my life, I have only thought about stewardship as related to finances. For the purpose of this blog, that is what I will be focusing on but I also wanted to draw your attention to the definition so you, as well, can look at all areas of your life and see if you are being a good steward with what you have been given.
As I previously posted, Steve & I both make good money so we could not figure out why we were so in debt. What were we doing wrong? We are one full month into using YNAB and it's been very enlightening. By making and (here's the important part) sticking to the budget, we have managed to seriously cut down on random spending, take care of our bills and get to paying down our debt - thank you Lord! We are also living completely on cash which is a whole 'nother experience.1. the position and duties of a steward, a person who acts as the surrogate of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate, etc.
2. the responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving
From Dictionary.com
I have been contemplating this topic for a couple of weeks now. Being raised in an evangelical church all of my life, I have only thought about stewardship as related to finances. For the purpose of this blog, that is what I will be focusing on but I also wanted to draw your attention to the definition so you, as well, can look at all areas of your life and see if you are being a good steward with what you have been given.
What does all of this have to do with stewardship? Everything! We have been looking not only at our money but also at our resources. Are we using all of our groceries each week or are we throwing the fresh produce out? Could I look at starting a small container garden to help offset costs? Can I quit whining about not being in a detached home in the 5 years that we planned on (I seriously need to work on that one)?
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