“You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.” CS Lewis
Random honesty here – I have never read a CS Lewis book. I tried to watch some of the movies, but I wasn’t a fan. Maybe I’ll add that to my must read list for the year. But that’s for another day.
Welcome to The Decade for Change Part Two. If you want to read part one, GO HERE. In part one, we talked about our why. Why do resolutions matter? Do they? If they don’t, we should make them matter in order to help us achieve them. Goals that matter will be achieved. Dreams that we dream will come true if they’re real and driven by a why.
In part one, I told you about my why – my family!
I am a teacher, and if you are a teacher, you were raised by a teacher, or you are married to a teacher, you know that the hours worked by a teacher are INSANE! So, although going to work full time outside of our home, has provided financial freedom for my family, it has taken me away from my family. And to be completely transparent and honest here, it has been damaging to my marriage. My husband and I are fighters. We are passionate, we argue, and we make up. But there is nothing that compares to the fighting and the hurting that happens when he is stressed from work, I am stressed from work, and we have four children, two dogs, and a house falling apart because of it. I find myself living for Christmas break and summer break because I know our marriage will be strong, renewed, and we will have time for each other. I will not have given my all to 42 other children and countless adults for 10 or more hours during the day, leaving me drained and useless when I walk through the door during those times, and my home will have many more smiles.
The financial freedom my family dreams of doesn’t include a broken family and marriage. My vision board includes a solid relationship, our beautiful children, and let’s face it – we don’t own nice things for a reason. But regardless of the never ending mess at home, at least dinner will be ready when the children are begging for their third after school snack, and my husband will come home to a wife dying for his attention, not begging to be left alone.
So how do we do it? How do I make this dream a reality? Two words – take control. How do you take control? Small baby steps that start with taking an honest look at your income and your expenses.
Recurring Expenses
Pull up your online banking account and write down all recurring expenses. If you prefer to go digital, a simple table in google docs or excel will do the trick! I personally like writing down my budget by hand, but there are perks to completing it on the computer. (Hello built in calculator!)
When you start bossing your money around, you should always start with what you must have to stay alive. That likely begins with food, housing, and transportation. Keep everything else off your budget until you find out how much flexibility you actually have in your budget.
Save Money
Growing up, my daddy told me over and over – save for a rainy day! And like most teenagers that think they know more than parents could ever know, I didn’t listen. And even into adulthood, I didn’t listen. When I got married, I didn’t listen. But now I listened, and after my survival expenses in my budget get their money, my savings account is next. Whether you automatically split a check between your savings and your checking, or you manually transfer after payday, save something!
Leftovers
Once you have those recurring bills down, you need to tell the rest of your money where to go. I am a fan of allocating all of my money and budgeting to $0. It is challenging for my family to actually nail down our monthly expected income as my husband works a commission based job. I have averaged out his income, then subtracted a bit JUST to be safe and keep my budget attainable and not too lofty given an ever changing income. I will always throw any extra money my husband makes into our savings category.
Be Flexible
One rule I have established for my budget is flexibility. I try to stick with it for a month, but if I feel like it isn’t working, I’ll tweak it! Also, remember any sacrifices you are making now to meet your financial dreams aren’t necessarily permanent. If you have to give up the salon, or highlights, or forgo a weekend getaway or happy hour, its okay! It’s not forever, it is just for now. And it is for the best! Think about your why!!
Be Realistic
So now, you’ve considered survival expenses, savings, and option spending. Great! But make sure you’ve planned for what you will, and often do, spend. If you live in a city where you drive frequently, you have to keep gas and car maintenance in mind. Do you pay for toll roads? Make a category for that in your budget. Do you use the salon frequently? Give that a category, too. Do you or your partner have a sport you participate in that cost money? Or do your children? Things like that also get put into the budget. Your child care expenses and pets have a line in the budget, as do dining out of the house, entertainment money, and date nights. If you grab lunch every Sunday after church, plan for it, and put it in the budget, too.
The moral here – budget for EVERYTHING! But keep it simple. Keep your must have expenses at the top of your budget and allocate your leftover income to your savings and finally your wants as your income allows. My family suffered from irresponsible spending, and misunderstood and overwhelming budgeting. I will share these stories over the next few weeks and months, but please learn from my mistakes, and learn now. Take control. Remember your why. Create a budget. Allocate every dime you make. Boss around your money! Tell it where to go. And do not forget to save!
Happy budgeting!
