Budgeting Secret is out!

There's been a request to know the budgeting secret! Well, i'll try to explain it as best i can! I wish it was something i could post, but we do it all on paper. So here goes:

Brad's dad (and yes, i know i do have the BEST in-laws ever!) just taught us to use a 3 ring binder with dividers and fill it with ledger or accounting paper with columns: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/ledger/general-3col.pdf. You will have a subtract column, an addition column, and a total column where you keep a running total of the money in that category! We then split up our fixed expenses into categories: tithing, food, rent, utilities, auto, entertainment, house... etc (we have about 12 dividers and each is a categories). And then you put in a certain amount of money in each category when you get paid (and then obviously subtract from that if you take money out of that category).

For example: If you pay $600 in rent each month and you get paid twice a month: you'll want to put in $300 in your rent category each time you get paid, so by the end of the month you have $600 to pay rent for the following month.

So in the bank you have one big lump sum, but on paper you have your money divided into these categories so you know how much you can spend in each category and visually see where your money is going. I love it cuz i like to know where we can save more or what we are spending our money on.

So basically what you are doing is making categories and then putting money in those categories, instead of just looking at your wellsfargo number and thinking, yea we have enough money there to buy that!

The best is that brad and i each have our own little category where we put in a little each month so we can spend it on whatever we want without having to ask (as long as we have money there!) I usually buy slurpees and he buys video games or something!

Anyway, that probably won't make much sense at all! Hope that helped a little! If you really want to know more information i'd be happy to help spread the budgeting secret on. Just let me know and i'd love to help! =)