Cook Budget: A Look Backward

Sorry this ended up being a small novel........

As we approach the middle of October, I am reminded of last year when Wes and I decided to radically change our family's budget. I'm not sure what snapped in me, but I knew it was time for a change! I just felt like I was losing control of our money. Part of the problem was that Wes and I have always been pretty good about handling our money, but not keeping track of our money.

So, I decided that October last year was a good time to say enough is enough! We needed to tighten the reins if we were going to do anything but tread financial waters. We have had our ups and downs. Here's an update.

The Envelopes:
These have definitely been the biggest change in our lives. In the beginning of the month, I go to the bank and get out $540 to fund the envelopes. Our envelopes are Grocery, Eating Out, Miscellaneous, and Gifts. After tracking our budget for a while I realized that these categories were where we could handle our expenses a lot better if we used only a set amount of cash. Things like gas and bills I was NOT going to go use cash on....too complicated.

I am trying to give you an honest view of what it's like to live on these envelopes so I will say I have grown to love them. I know, I am as surprised as you are!! It did take quite a while for me to get to this point. I found them cumbersome in the beginning. You should have seen me at the grocery, between the coupons and the cash I was sure to be dropping something! But as time went on, I got better and better. I would track what I was putting in my cart while I was shopping (keeping a loose tally) to make sure I had my bills ready when I checked out. My biggest hurdle has been forgetting to refill the envelopes when I need them. I do sneak money from other ones if I have to. But I always pay them back!!

Loss of Services:
Also in October as part of the budget overhaul, we gave up a few things or made changes to things that were weighing down our expenses. We changed our car and home insurance, refinanced our house, dropped our home phone line with AT&T and got MagicJack, and sold our Avalon for a more gas-efficient car that won't cost as much to repair. So, did these make a difference to the budget?

They definitely put us on the right track, but not without some snags along the way! I lovingly refer to Magic Jack as Magic Junk because it is very moody and decides on some days it just doesn't want to work right! Our insurance was raised this year by about $70 for some unknown reason but is still cheaper than what we had before so I guess that is okay! Since our refi last year, we have refi'ed again this year and our mortgage payment has gone down significantly! Wes loves his new car and we were glad to get rid of the Avalon before it needed any major repairs.

The great thing about cutting back on things is that it makes you evaluate more things you can cut from your life. Since making our initial cuts, we have cut back from cable internet down to DSL and have dropped our basic cable completely and now just use the digital channels that you can get for free. This saved us around $45/month. We did end up adding Netflix for $9 a month since we were frequenting redbox a lot and not always getting our movies back on time! OOPS!

All in all, the buckling down has been very positive! We are saving now for things that we weren't able to when we were not tracking our expenses. If you feel like you are living paycheck to paycheck, I think there's almost always something that can be done. It's not going to be fun, mind you, but it will give you so much more control over your life when you are in control of your money.

We are proof of that.

If you ever want someone to talk to about this kinda stuff, Wes and I love to talk so come on over and we will put on a nice pot of soda (since we don't like coffee that much!) and have a nice chat.