Penny pincher in me

I have been asked a few times how I budget and keep a growing savings, this is a constant learning experience for me and I feel it should always be a changing growing experience for all as well. I feel we should always be making new goals financially and because of that, how you budget and save will change as well. 

I have also come a long way in my financial growth as well. Starting out I married very young and my husband kept the bills since he had been doing them all his adult life so far. But once he deployed all those bills landed on my feet and I had to take charge, mangage and save as much as I could during his deployment. I learned a lot from that experience and continue to learn and I am the one in control of our financial goals since being military he is hardly home. 

So what are some lessons I have learned and am learning? 

I grew up in the poorest county in Colorado and as a daughter of a rancher who struggled with the draught I learned early on how to live even below what little earnings my family made. So even now I still live within those means and do have to remind myself I am not nearly as poor as I tell myself I am. 

But this is not a bad thing to tell your self. It helps keep you from going shopping and buying things that you don't really need. 

So when should you start a budget? 

It is always good to start one anytime! But when I decide that my budget needs readjusting or we have fallen off the track I always restart it at the end of the month. 

The end of the month is the saddest your budget will look and you need to see what your budget reality looks like. 

For my story we had just moved four months ago and have been paying two house hold bills with one income. We did it because we saved enough money for unexpected adventures that the military would throw our way and this was one of them. But because of that we did see our budget shrink more than I would have liked. But thankfully this last week we were able to finally sell that home! Now that extra 1,000 dollars can start going back where it belongs. 

So what do you do with extra money after done with a payment or in our case a house?

First off it is not extra money. This is money that you have lost and now it's time to in my case play catch up. I have notice that it takes twice as long to catch up on money that you have lost. So if you spent 4,000 dollars out of budget in 4 months then it will take 8 months to get your budget on track. 

How do you keep track of your budget? 

Some banks offer online a budget plan and I love the budget plan my bank offers but I also love www.mint.com. I personally just started using it on my newest budget plan and this app helps keep me focused on my goal. 

On the budget app you need to sit down and go through your bills. How much is your rent? What is the average utilities bill? Go through your grocery recites, how much do you normally spend a month? And go through all other bills and debt you have that you have to pay monthly. Now add all those bills up. Then subtract it from how much you get paid monthly. Hopefully you have some money left over.   If you do it's time to make a new account and have a automatic withdrawal into that new account which will be your hidden saving account. At least put 50 dollars of every paycheck in there. 

Do not look at this account or add it with your checking account. 

If you want to save money for trips or something special then make another account and add more to that one as well. But never use your savings account unless it is extremely important. 

So now you have your bills taken care of you have started your savings for emergancies and you have some left over that my friend is not your carefree money. It's time to build up your account and time to make a goal. For me I want to see at least 500 more in my account at the end of next month. So plan your month according to how much you have left over. If that means not going to to movies or dining out making these cuts will make a dramatic change. 

So how do you save money? 

I am learning how to coupon and no I am not a crazy couponer. I make a list of groceries for the month and then go through the coupons I get in the mail and have been surprised to find a lot of coupons for things I do really need. 

Also to make a successful shopping trip only once a month or maybe you need to split it into twice a month, you need to plan out your meals. 

Not only do I use coupons from the mail but I found a awesome app that I will soon see if it works but it is called checkout 51. They also have coupons and after you buy, you take a picture of your receipt and claim what is on the list. After at least 20 dollars they will send you a check in the mail. 

How else do I save money on food?

I do not buy at Walmart. Yes they say they match prices but they do not have the same type of deals that other grocery stores have. Depending on where you live there are grocery stores that have member cards for you to get an even better discount on items. I know for Colorado area King Soopers does this and on the east coast there are a few that I use. But my favorites are food lion and BI-LO. 

BI-LO though has become my favorite place to shop. Not only do I save using their card but they also help me save on gas. Every 20 dollars I spend is a cent I get off a gallon of gas and you can save up to 50 cents using shell gas stations. 

The more experience I get with couponing and buying items on sell or using the buy one get one free I have been saving at least 60 dollars when I go shopping. Plus once I save about 50 cents on gas I fill up saving even more at the pump. 

How do I stay on track when clothing the kids? 

Thankfully I only have one child to clothe but it can still be expensive! 

I look for deals and crazy 8 has some really good deals so do other stores but you have to wait and watch for the sales though. Before I go shopping on sale racks I take in Emma's clothes she out grew to Once Upon A Child. Make sure you wash the clothes first and there are no stains.clothes they don't buy I take to goodwill and ask for a receipt. You can use that as a tax write off.  I always feel they buy her cloths for good prices. Then that cash I made I take and only spend that much on her new wardrobe. Sometimes you need to spend more but the cash from the resale usually is a nice start. 

Now time to talk about the little things. As you begin to go through your budget and see where you spend the most you see the little things like stopping at Mac Donald's for dinner or that pair of shoes you had to buy start to add up. It's time to stop making these purchases. 

We have a rule when it comes to these types of purchases. 

We make a monthly plan and if by the end of the month we surpassed that goal then we will treat ourselves to something we wanted,for me that treat is Dunkin' Donuts or lunch at our favorite BBQ diner.  Do not spend a lot. Just enough to treat yourself. But only treat yourself if you surpass your budget. After making your goal for a few months then maybe go buy shoes or that xbox game but keep in mind those purchases need to be saved for when you have kept up with your budget for awhile. 

And once you are able to stay on budget and start paying off your debt it's time to set your budget up higher and add more  to your savings account. At least add another 50 dollars from every pay check. This takes time and years to do but the trick is stay on track. 

This is what I have learned and I hope it gives anyone reading this ideas and maybe you can give me tips that I haven't found yet. 

Happy savings!!!

-kristina