Money Makeover - Chapter 5

This week in book group we shared our budgets. As much as I would like to believe it's safe to post this information on the Internet, I will not. Instead I''ll share our concept of a budget since it's a little different than the traditional way.

As I've mentioned before, DH and I have compromised on our definition of budget. He’s not big on the idea of being told a set limit for spending or on being told "no" and truth be told neither am I (Yes, we are a prime example of Ramsey’s description of the 2 year old scream- I want it and I want it now!). So instead of setting a limit for each budget category, I keep a running total each month and our goal is spend less in each category unless we talk about it ahead of time and make some adjustments.

For example, last month we went over our home improvement budget to buy fence supplies. But we talked about it and agreed to be even more careful on the personal spending side of the budget to make up for it. And we did, while our home improvement budget went up $700 we brought down our personal care by $600. The system is not exactly what Ramsey preaches but it works for us and we have brought our overall spending down by over $1000 since starting this 4 months ago.

Highs for the week:

• I still haven't gone to Target!
• DH and I have started shutting off the power strip switch to the TV and computers to save electricity and hopefully bring down our bill a few cents.
• Gas is coming down. It's the lowest I've seen it in 2+ years!
• I was hosting the company's guests this week so lunches and dinners were paid for.
  

Lows for the week:

• Ah, the stock market. I didn't have much in my 401K and I'm pretty sure if we keep this up, I'm going to owe money...
• The central heat kicked on and the thermostat is set to 55. So much for bring down the electricity bill.
• DH was robbed over overtime by being forced to take the day off instead.