June's NEW

Alright...I've officially failed at my new year's resolution to try something new each month. May got away from me with no new thing.

But don't you fret, and don't you frown...I'm picking right back up with June and boy do I have a whopper of a "new" for you!

My new for June is that I have put myself on a budget! Woo-hoo! Exciting, I know. But this is a big deal for me. I don't even balance my checkbook. I basically keep a mental running tab of about how much money I've got and hope there's enough in there by the end of the month! Unfortunately, it has worked pretty well so far, thus I haven't seen the need for a budget. There have been some months I have come terribly close, but I also squeak by!

With my roommate moving out in about a week, I know I can't be squeaking by anymore. I've been to a financial workshop put on by my church. It was really good. That was about 2 years ago...have I done anything with it? Nope.

Then I went to another financial workshop put on by my pastor and his wife. This one was really good. They basically shared with us what they do as a family. They have 3 kids. The main thing they stressed was having a spending plan.

They've basically made categories of stuff that they need to spend money on. There's your basics like mortgage, food, bills, utilities, etc. but they also have categories for other stuff they like/want. Date nights, birthdays, home decor, etc. Every category has a limit. They just keep the receipts and take the money out of the appropriate category. Once the money is gone for a particular category...it's gone!

Sounds simple, but it just makes so much sense to me!

I started a little something like this last year. Right around this time last year, I started putting money away for Christmas every month. By the time it got here, I paid for everything out of cash and didn't have to keep paying for it after Christmas. It was a GREAT feeling!!

So, tonight I sat down and made my categories. Tomorrow is July 1 and I am eager to start my new budget!! I hope it works for me. I hope it makes sense to me. I really hope it's something I can keep up with!

I'll let ya know...