Enveloping It

One of the best ways I have found in budgeting our money is the cash & envelope system. Dave Ramsey talks about this in his book, Total Money Makeover. We currently have an envelope systems of just plain envelopes that I have written on: This is cheap, frugal, and fine! But, some people need motivation to use them, so you could always go to the store and purchase some cute ones :-) Or have your kids do artwork on them!

Our envelopes are divided into 2 categories: weekly and monthly
They are as follows:

Weekly:

Gas $30/wk (we live within 2.5 miles of Chris' work and our church so we can keep the miles down!)

Necessities $25/wk (this goes for shampoo, clothes, diapers, etc)

Food $75/wk

Tithes 10% of all income/wk

Faith Promise "X" amount/wk

Monthly:

WOAK "X" amount/m

Church Special "X" amount/m

Insurance $75/m

Netflix $17/m

Loan $125/m

Loan $293/m

Rent $750/m

Verizon $150/m

Electric/Propane $350/m (we just started doing this, but after February, I' m going to make it $250/m so the months when we don't run the air as much, I can put back for the months later in the year when we'll be using

Some things you may notice is: no car payment. We paid off our used car last year. We also do not have a landline, and our landlord pays for our cable.

Anyway, when you get paid each time, take out the appropriate amount and put it in your envelopes after you have set your budget for the week. When the money in the envelope is gone, STOP SPENDING! Obviously, when our loans get paid off when our taxes come back, we will adjust and make envelopes for debt, etc :-) Can't wait!