Monthly budget review sessions are necessary to conquering frugality. Wild, and careless spending is a no end road that leads to guilt. I don’t know how many months it took me to figure out to pay all of our necessary expenses first, then shop. Inevitably I would go to the store, stop a few places and just pick up some stuff. By the time Monday rolled around and we sat down to do our budget, most of our paycheck was gone.
My husband and I do the budget together. We discuss our finances. It works well. Even when I would overspend, or spend on something before doing the budget we worked through it. Two working on the budget is better than one, and I say that because he looks at finances one way, and I another.
Here is what our process looks like;
Set a Regular Schedule
Each month we do a regular budget meeting. Sometimes it is an hour, and sometimes longer. Therefore when we sit down all of the bills are discussed, goals, savings and anything else. We work a family budget better now, but being focused on our goals and working on them as a team was monumental.
We didn’t always agree. Disagreement happened a lot over the years’, but compromise kept us on our path. Our family’s financial future depended upon our teamwork. Following Dave Ramseys’ plan was not easy, but kept our path straight. One goal we still agree on and work towards is conquering frugality. Slipping off the wagon happens. Now, we just start where we left off and move forward.
Identify Areas of Over Spending
During our goal setting sessions concerning our budget all expenses were written down. Next, future expenses, and then income. Since we are self employed it was easy to itemize our expenses. In order for us to conquer frugality we had to identify areas of overspending. Amazon was one of my weaknesses.
He identified his overspending and we came up with a plan. This plan was possible due to our budget review. Without us taking a moment to review what we spend our money on each month our bank account, bills and everything else would have been discombobulated. Having a budget review helped us to see our faults.
Look for Cost-Saving Opportunities
Meal planning is a huge time and money saving activity. Grocery hacks come in a close second. Without either one of those two it would have been difficult to feed our family of six. Eating out is expensive. Setting up a meal plan allows me to base meals on what we have in our pantry. For example, I found a great sale on pasta and purchased several boxes. Meal planning helped me to use the boxed pasta and save money. I found two or three meals that were based off the pasta I had purchased.
Likewise, one a month shopping saves money. It saves time, and gas. Running out to the store several times a week is expensive, and I always buy more than I need. So, my once a month shopping trip helps to keep our grocery budget in check. Our monthly budget meeting revealed that we needed to place these cost savings into our plans.
Plan for the Future and Conquer Frugality
Conquering frugality was very important to us because of our finances, but also our future. Someday we hope to retire and enjoy some traveling. Without a strong budget and financial plan that will not be possible. All of the years’ we have worked for retirement to be lost by poor financial decisions seems silly.
Sitting down and working through each section of a budget, writing down our expenses and discussing ways to raise our income helped us financially. Not only that, but since we are a one income family we have found many other ways to save.
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