When we decided to start being actual adults and learn how to budget, we both had some things to learn. We realized that our lifestyle was costing some major moolah each month.
Throwing Money Away
Before Dave Ramsey, we were living it up. As parents to two little ones and working full time, we used to look at weekends as our reward. We spent money recklessly because it was fun and convenient. We ate out too much, never looked at price tags, and chose expensive entertainment options because it kept us busy and, well, entertained. We worshipped our credit cards. ALL 28 of them. YES, I am serious. As we started to discuss what it would look like to start budgeting, we had to come to terms with the amount of money we were bleeding on weekends. No way could we continue to do that and pay off debt.
Time for a Change
We needed to stay home more, eat in more, and plan our trips to the grocery store. I started making meal plans. (Side note: Meal planning used to make me roll my eyes SO hard because I thought it was boring and domestic, and I didn’t identify myself as either of those things.) And maybe it is boring. But bleeding money because of poor planning is also stupid. So we chose to be boring over STUPID. We had to put some routines and meal planning in place and it made life and budgeting waaaayyy easier.
Love/Hate Relationship
Do I love it budgeting? Not always. Sometimes I hate the monotony of the routine. We have jobs where our checks are consistent so the pay is always the same. The budget doesn’t change much. The grocery list is the same, the rotation of meals is the same. The same pocket money, the same EVERYTHING. Sometimes it can feel like groundhogs day, living a two week period, over and over and over again. I wish I had the freedom to go without our budgeting routine, but we don’t. At least not right now, when we have goals that we want so badly to achieve. So, I have to find other ways to change things up.
And by bold, I mean, really boring stuff that only an adult would care about. BUT every once in a while a change-up does help me feel like I am not living the same week over and over and over again.
Here are 5 Ideas to Change up Your Budget Routine
1. LOW SPEND CHALLENGES: When we have an idea of something we want to do, we try to figure out how we can do it for less. We got some cardinal tickets for a gift one time and didn’t have a budget for gas AND eating out so we made a picnic and sought out a park to go on the way down to the game. We skipped the souvenirs and made it through the adventure with a very low cost.
2. NO SPEND CHALLENGES: Set spending challenges for your family. Try a “No Spend Sunday”. Or a “no spend week” every once in a while. If we succeed in our challenge, we set a reward for ourselves.
3. SKIP THE GROCERY STORE: We try every once in a while to skip the grocery store and save our $150 two week grocery budget. We plan meals from our pantry and freezer and eat up things that we need to get rid of. Then we put our budgeted grocery money toward something fun that we may not normally do entertainment-wise or to an upcoming travel expense. Spending that money guilt-free makes me feel like we are really livin’ it up.
4. CHANGE UP AMOUNTS IN BUDGET AREAS: Every once in a while we will put more money in our grocery budget and less in our entertainment or pocket cash budget. This allows us to spring for specialty items at the store like lobster. Or we might cut grocery back a little and try to make it work so that we can put extra money in our entertainment fund to do something that we might not normally do.
5. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK: When we really feel stuck and bored, we let our selves forget about the budget for a night and take everyone to do something fun or out to eat. All things in moderation. We don’t do this a lot, maybe monthly. Most times we can cover our expenditures in leftover pocket money. We can sometimes be a little TOO rigid and taking a break helps us feel not so tied down. If you give it a break every now and again, you are more likely to stick with it!
What routines do you have in place to re
ach your financial goals? Do you get tired of them? I would love to hear how you mix it up!