We(key word) recently started budgeting together. November's budget is now being called the Great Budget Debacle. I'll let that speak for itself! We did make it a priority to keep our budgeted amount for charity even though almost every other category was wiped out. After we reconciled the budget I went online and gave the money we were supposed to give. That was the best kind of success for the month.
We have successfully used a budget before but this is the first time we have gone through the whole process together. My husband and I have two completely opposite views of the budget(also known as the B word) so we are trying our hardest to meet in the middle and work together without getting into any arguments.
I feel like we will be holding our breath for the next few months until we have an emergency fund saved up. You know how it is, the minute you start using a budget something needs to be replaced!
We are funding all of the categories in our budget even if vacation only receives $2.00 a month. It is nice to know we have something in that category even if we won't be able to use it for a long time!
Our food budget for now is whatever my husband makes at his extra job. We are trying to pay off all our debt(besides the house) by the end of next year so the extra job is really helping us to dump extra cash into the car payments. This month our goal is to spend less than what he makes at the extra job on food so we can use the extra to pay down debt and to restock the freezer when we find a good sale.
While we were going over the Great Budget Debacle of Nov. our oldest son was sitting in the back of the room watching. He has listened to Dave Ramsay's book and is thinking about how his budget will work next year when he is in college. I hope our experiences will lead him to start off on the right foot!
Do you budget? Love it or hate it? I'm trying to see it as a useful tool and a challenge to win!
