Today was a sudden test drive of the new budget binder and I decided it needed some tweaking before leaving the house with it again.
Christopher got off work late due to his boss deciding to start his vacation early, and his lunch break was taken up with getting Faelyn from school and bring her home. She was there maybe 2 hours and called to be picked up cause she was sick. Zoe just didn't even go today cause she got to the bus stop and a car hit a puddle and splashed all over her so she came home and missed the bus. I didn't have a car to drive her.
So, this all ended up giving Hubby and I only about 40 minutes to get to the bank, electric company, and post office before they all closed since we have to pay most of our bills in cash (had issues with checks for a long time. It was a dark time for us, but we're through it... but still dealing with the consequences). Bank was first and that went quickly and I even got a new free check register because I actually thought to ask. I've been using notebook paper cause my register was full. (Too many transactions y'all! Have to really use those envelopes soon.) Then we got to the electric company and paid that one... the women at the window actually asked us if our power had been turned off.... seriously are we that recognizeable? We have had some problems with that in the past, but dang... to ASK? Besides if it had been, I'd go inside and ask them to get it back on. I wouldn't go to the window. I'm betting I'm not the only one who has had this issue heh. But I am determined to put all that behind me. I want to get to where I can set up the bill pay draft from my account and NEVER have to go to the power company window or desk again. That would rock.
So, then! We went down the street to the post office. I realized I didn't have the envelope or stamps or address of the house payment place. We could have gotten those at the post office though normally (and called home to get address), but the PO was closed! They close at 4pm. Crazy. Anyway, we'll mail it tomorrow, and I had called and told them it'd be late. But it bugged me that I'd not put those important things into the budget binder (they're still in the HMB).
So, when we finally finished all our errands and got home, I rummaged through the cabinet where I keep office and back to school extras, and fixed the budget binder up a little. So I took pics!
Now the front pocket has address labels, stamps, some envelopes, and an envelope with the house payment address on it (and a note to myself not to use that envelope since I need it for the address. It's something I'd do.)
I also added a pencil zipper pouch. It's not the prettiest, but it works great. It holds a pen and pencil and an extra checkbook. I hate being out running errands and run out of checks. I still keep a pencil in the inside pocket of the spine. It's convenient. I need to get a new little cheap calculator and keep in the pouch as well. My kids took all my calculators.
After that pouch is a new pocket folder I found. This one is for bills I need to pay, and I used some of those letter stickers to label it.
And then after all the budget sheets and extra paper, I have the matching one for paid bills, and it's labeled.
lastly...
I found the column record book like the ones I had in Accounting class in high school... decades ago. Like I said, I prefer to do it all on paper, so this will be where I do a spending log and looking back over the budget to see where I need to adjust things. I'll even keep track of how much goes into each envelope monthly.
When I get those pages to where they're working for me and I like them, I try to post about them and offer suggestions for people trying to do this as well. It's a learning process for me. I've been budgeting since before I got married 20 years ago, but we've never been good about sticking to it and we're just tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Our income is such now that it shouldn't be necessary anymore, but it's not going to just *happen*. I have to make it happen and we have to stick to a plan. I'm excited to think about being out of debt and only have the normal monthly expenses to deal with. Then we can finally start seriously saving. 40 is a little (ok a lot) late to start saving for retirement, but at least we are starting somewhere.
Hope y'all had a good day!
Christopher got off work late due to his boss deciding to start his vacation early, and his lunch break was taken up with getting Faelyn from school and bring her home. She was there maybe 2 hours and called to be picked up cause she was sick. Zoe just didn't even go today cause she got to the bus stop and a car hit a puddle and splashed all over her so she came home and missed the bus. I didn't have a car to drive her.
So, this all ended up giving Hubby and I only about 40 minutes to get to the bank, electric company, and post office before they all closed since we have to pay most of our bills in cash (had issues with checks for a long time. It was a dark time for us, but we're through it... but still dealing with the consequences). Bank was first and that went quickly and I even got a new free check register because I actually thought to ask. I've been using notebook paper cause my register was full. (Too many transactions y'all! Have to really use those envelopes soon.) Then we got to the electric company and paid that one... the women at the window actually asked us if our power had been turned off.... seriously are we that recognizeable? We have had some problems with that in the past, but dang... to ASK? Besides if it had been, I'd go inside and ask them to get it back on. I wouldn't go to the window. I'm betting I'm not the only one who has had this issue heh. But I am determined to put all that behind me. I want to get to where I can set up the bill pay draft from my account and NEVER have to go to the power company window or desk again. That would rock.
So, then! We went down the street to the post office. I realized I didn't have the envelope or stamps or address of the house payment place. We could have gotten those at the post office though normally (and called home to get address), but the PO was closed! They close at 4pm. Crazy. Anyway, we'll mail it tomorrow, and I had called and told them it'd be late. But it bugged me that I'd not put those important things into the budget binder (they're still in the HMB).
So, when we finally finished all our errands and got home, I rummaged through the cabinet where I keep office and back to school extras, and fixed the budget binder up a little. So I took pics!
Now the front pocket has address labels, stamps, some envelopes, and an envelope with the house payment address on it (and a note to myself not to use that envelope since I need it for the address. It's something I'd do.)
I also added a pencil zipper pouch. It's not the prettiest, but it works great. It holds a pen and pencil and an extra checkbook. I hate being out running errands and run out of checks. I still keep a pencil in the inside pocket of the spine. It's convenient. I need to get a new little cheap calculator and keep in the pouch as well. My kids took all my calculators.
After that pouch is a new pocket folder I found. This one is for bills I need to pay, and I used some of those letter stickers to label it.
And then after all the budget sheets and extra paper, I have the matching one for paid bills, and it's labeled.
lastly...
When I get those pages to where they're working for me and I like them, I try to post about them and offer suggestions for people trying to do this as well. It's a learning process for me. I've been budgeting since before I got married 20 years ago, but we've never been good about sticking to it and we're just tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Our income is such now that it shouldn't be necessary anymore, but it's not going to just *happen*. I have to make it happen and we have to stick to a plan. I'm excited to think about being out of debt and only have the normal monthly expenses to deal with. Then we can finally start seriously saving. 40 is a little (ok a lot) late to start saving for retirement, but at least we are starting somewhere.
Hope y'all had a good day!
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I love getting comments, and I read every one. Thanks for coming by my site and reading my ramblings. I hope you have a wonderful day! -Patty