Budgeting

I've always felt like I was very aware of where our money went.  There was always money for the bills, and slowly but surely our debt has been going down...but a lot of money slipped through our finger tips and there never seemed to be enough left over to do all the "fun stuff" we wanted. 

So I started planning a strict budget this summer, when we were struggling to get by without dipping into our savings.  But I didn't start following it until September, when our income was "restored".

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, it suddenly occurred to me that since the first few days of following the budget, we didn't go into overdraft once!  Now for us, going into overdraft is no big deal and it happened mostly because I had a bunch of checks in my purse and never made it to the bank.  We didn't spend money we didn't have, but we did often have that transferring of money from one account to the other, and then have to replace it a day later. 

But by having a budget, that has been eliminated!  How cool is that?  We're ahead, not just skimming the line.  I think we've especially stopped the money flying out the window in the grocery (me) and bar (him) departments. Now, after we've spent the allotted money, we just stop.

For those of you who are curious, after bills are paid/retirement accounts funded/insurance paid, this is how we spend the rest of our money.

$400 into savings (My husband is dying to get his hands on this money, but I have so-far won this battle.)

$400 for groceries/drug store items

$300 for spending money, split between the two of us (This goes for clothes, hair cuts, take out, bar tabs, what ever we like.)

$300 for entertainment that we do together (Mostly going to the bar and eating out.)

So my best advice to someone who would like to get their finances in order is to TRACK YOUR SPENDING and the limit overspending in any category that you see fit.