Budget

I hate this word and frankly we fail at keeping to one.  We’ve racked up debt and both hubby and I lean towards impulse spending.  I’ve watched my own parents go bankrupt.  I recognized too that there are things I really want to be part of my life and future– and chasing the almighty dollar was not one of them. 

Past tense : We were unhappy and needed to take our financial lives by the reins.

The funny thing – wait for it – I am a bookkeeper for a local non-profit.  I track their money, reconcile their accounts, track the budget and suggest areas of improvement. I hear you laughing.     A debt-addled individual bookkeeping when she doesn’t even keep her own books.

Last April, I changed this.  I purchased (online) the same software I use at work and began to track our spending.  At first we didn’t change any of our habits but we looked at areas that we felt we spent too much.  It turned out that we found three areas that our money was ‘leaking’.

1.      Fast Food  (over $1800 per year? Chips, Pop, Convenience Stores, Take Out)

2.      Gym Membership ($700 a year and we were not getting there more than once a week)

3.      Vehicle Expenses (Specifically Insurance and Fuel).

These are the area’s we budgeted first and began to practice changing habits.  Fast food is now a travel-only treat.  Our Gym-Membership was cancelled except for our daughter – whose membership can be entered as a tax-credit on our federal forms.  And our vehicle expenses: 1) we shopped around for insurance rates and found one that saved us $1400 a year and 2) I decided that 3 days a week, May 1 – October 1^st,  I will be biking to work (That is 63 days of biking 9kms or 567km saved in gas.  It also makes up for the cancelling of a gym membership).

Budgeting is a learning curve.  We are still struggling in some areas but we continue to WATCH our finances and improve the ‘leaks’.

Here is a link to a great resource if you are interested in starting a budget.  Ten steps - just ten steps:  Canadian Budget Binder

 

 

Simplify

One of the best ways we have found to save is to simplify. Keeping up with the Jones’ just magnifies our personal stockpile of stuff and debt. Living simply means getting rid of things you do so you can spend time with the people you love and do the things that make you passionate. It means getting rid of clutter so you are left with the things you value. Getting to a simple life is not simple though; it is a journey that takes a few steps forward and then some falling ba...ck. It takes practice.

It is WELL worth it.

Grab a piece of paper. Now write the following.

1. What is most important to me?

Your list could be two things, or ten things. This is mine.

1. Family (dogs included)
2. Journey of Faith
3. Nature
4. Learning

Next step. Eliminate everything else. YIKES. Okay let’s take some baby steps.

This week, today:

EVALUATE COMMITMENTS.
Edit your life ruthlessly. List your commitments, Work, family, hobbies, civic duties, religious, home, etc. Which ones bring value to your life and match what is most important to you? How would it affect you if you dropped this commitment?

It is a difficult thing to do but if you dropped just one thing for a few weeks – the thing that gives you the least return for your invested time – you can evaluate whether or not it was necessary in the first place.

You may feel guilty or that you have let others down. Please balance this with the freedom of having more time and energy to put into your other commitments. It will make you better all around.

I’ve discovered during this exercise that I’ve been putting in a fair amount of overtime at work lately trying to dig through a mountain of things to do. You know what, as long as I am not fired – I have the whole year to prioritize and accomplish things eventually.

Goal: My commitment to overtime is null and void. I will practice this next week. I’ll let you know how I do next Saturday.

So what is your goal to simplifying your commitments?