Mr J and I have recently started a cash budget. I dreaded every moment of it, but actually I have come to love it! We have saved so much money in the last month just by using cash! I thought this would be hard for us as we NEVER had cash on us before. But instead for me it has became a game and I do not impulse buy near as much anymore! (Don't get me wrong, I still buy a few impulse items every now and then) We have a set amount that we can spend on groceries, gas, clothes, entertainment, eating out, etc each week. I came home from grocery shopping today wondering why in the world we spent so much on groceries before. I believe it has to do with impulse buying. Take today for example. This week for my lunch I bought bologna (not because it is cheap...which it isn't anymore, almost $4, but I wanted bologna). I had bologna and bread on my list but did not have chips. But I really wanted chips. So, I add the prices of my groceries up as I go along and I told myself if we were well under budget I could get my chips. And we were, so I did. Before I would have just bought the chips and probably 30 other things that "looked" good but were not on my planned out list. This sounds like you are being deprived, but I promise you will not be. (I also got brownies and a magazine, that were not on my list, but we were so under budget so I could! And still came in under budget!!) Grocery shopping on a cash budget is more work, but it has become such a game and I love it. Not to add that we are saving major money to put towards a bigger house! I invite you to join us in using a cash budget and see the money build up faster in your savings!
Interesting! I'd like to know your plan. I do a lot of budgeting for bills and for saving for unexpected expenses, but tend to just let it go when it comes to the other stuff like groceries.. Gas we are pretty regular each week.. Entertainment/date night is just when I feel like we have more money than usual (overtime, etc). But I like to have it ALL under control, and I keep saying I'm going to work on the rest of it!
ReplyDeleteI would be more than happy to discuss our plan. Basically we just sat down and figured out what we spent money on other than bills as we know our bills are pretty much a set amount each month. We use to spend anywhere from $150-$200 a week on grocery shopping. We started by cutting that down to $120 a week and I am averaging around $70 a week on groceries. I always plan my menus and do grocery shopping once a week. This has also helped us save. Also, any money left over from groceries goes back into savings. Instead of depositing all of Mr J's check, he just keeps out cash that we have budgeted for each category. I know that Dave Ramsey has a similar envelope budget system. We do not follow his plan exactly, but it is similar. http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dave-ramseys-envelope-system/lifeandmoney_budgeting/
ReplyDelete