Budget. What is a budget? I think the simplest way to describe it is that it's a way to designate where your money goes. Think of it as a group of buckets, each one with a bright label on it. Tithe, Rent, Food, and various other categories are lined up on the porch. It's our decision now how much of our bag of loot goes into each bucket. Then, that bucket get taken to the landlord, the grocery store, the cell phone, and spent. No more than what is in that particular bucket gets spent.
Brianna and I had the privilege of sitting down last week with our particular bag of loot (last month's income) and divide it up into the different buckets. Surprisingly it was actually fun to talk about our money and what we wanted to do with it. We had been discussing, for some time, about getting out of debt and that we needed to have a budget to be able to do this. We were prepared to sit down and divide out our categories, our buckets.
We set out the tithe first, then the necessary bills and the food. Then we were able to work on the misc. categories. Amazing how powerful giving each dollar a purpose made us feel! Especially when we did it together. We then withdrew what cash we needed for the envelope system, and made our envelopes.
Already this week it's become evident that we think more about our money when we have to go to the envelope and make the withdrawal. I am a big fan of cash now!!
One of the subjects we discussed, was that the categories can be fluid. We don't have to put the same amount in clothes every month, or even contribute to that category every month. That gives us a better flexibility to use our money.
One of the most important things we are doing is that we are recognizing that this is not our money. This money is God's and we are stewards. We need to be smart with what we have, and He will reward us. We are blessed in order to be a blessing!
What sort of things do you do to keep on a budget? Do you have a frivolous category? Where do you save money?
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