Tonight Evan and I went over our finances for next year. We created a budget solely based on my income, as Evan will be going to school full-time and may or may not be able to work.
WOW! I cannot believe how tight our budget will be! If we pay off Evan's school as we go, we will hardly be able to save, pay off my student loans, and pay off my car in a timely manner. We had to take some things out of our budget altogether (e.g. eating out and entertainment) and cut down spending on groceries to $100 in order to put 10% of my income into savings. We both our fairly frugal people, but two people living off of ONE teacher's salary will definitely be tough.
I now see how easy it is for people to go into debt when it is so difficult to live within your means. It means cutting out any extra spending and saving as much as you can. For some people, that can be incredibly difficult. I also see why nowadays there are so many working mothers and fathers in the world! In some situations, two incomes in today's society can be the only way to get the bills paid.
Overall, I see that creating a married budget is so different than creating a budget for a single person. I'm grateful that Evan and I were able to laugh at this experience and humble ourselves to realize that it won't be easy, but Heavenly Father will bless us as we continue to pay our tithing and work hard to make and achieve wise financial goals.
(NOTE: I know how to spell "cents." The above title is a play on words.)
10 insightful comments:
Hey Sarah, that's really good that you guys went over money now. Good luck making it work, I know you guys can. As for entertainment and stuff, there are always super cheap dates and things to do. It's just about being able to find them.
Also, from my personal experience, I found that making a budget on paper was really hard to follow. What I mean is that I wrote out all the things we spend money on and how much we should spend. But I found it was ineffective because I wasn't following it. For example, I would give us $80 on gas for the month. But then we would take a 3 hour trip to visit a friend and we would spend more gas. Or we would have to change the oil in the car, and I never put that in the budget. Or we would spend more on food than I had planned. So what I started doing instead was I made an excel spreadsheet with all our expenses. Then each month, I keep track of everything that we spend money on-I mean everything from the candy bar that cost 50 cents to a bottle of hair gel. After a few months I was able to get a feel for how much we typically spend on things and where we should cut back or make sure that we don't overspend or just what expenses we had that I hadn't really thought of or planned for (like insurance co-pays or vehicle registration fees). There will almost always be unexpected expenses-some big, some small that will throw a loop in the whole money saving/spending plan, but that's just how life is.
Anyways, just thought I would share what worked for me. It's definitely a learning process. Also, do you guys know where you're going to live? Hope things are going well. Love ya.
I think it is great that you are trying to figure these things out now. I agree with Rachel, though, in that until you have actually experienced exactly what living under these new conditions will be like, it will be a little difficult to make effective plans. There are some things that are fairly arbitrary (ie. tithing), but other things that take some experience to figure (ie. a good cap on gasoline purchases).
One thing that we do in my family is track things in categories and then monitor where the money is going. Once we saw where money was going (and how much) we made some goals to keep everything in check. For instance we put the car insurance, maintenance, gas, registration, and all that stuff under "Car Expenses." We have a goal of keeping this under $200 each month. Most months its not a big deal, but it keeps us prepared for those months that have big trips or lots of maintenance.
Another thing that we have been doing lately is dumping almost everything into savings. With about six months of records we can see how much we really spend each month. Whatever is over a reasonable allowance to cover our needs and a bit of discretionary spending we put into a savings account. Since the money isn't in checking it kind of makes us forget that it is actually there. Within only a couple of months we have been able to save 1.5 months salary this way.
Sarah, way to be on top of things. James and I got around to a budget a month after we got married. But I have to tell you. Coming from a couple living on two part time jobs and both of us going to school full time, it doesn't matter how much money you do or don't have, you have to splurge (out to eat, entertainment, etc) sometimes or you just might go crazy.
i definetly agree. it is hard to keep the "B" word (budget) but it is very important. tithing is such a blessing. you cant afford not to pay it and fast offering. so important. good for you for going over this now!
Good for you guys! We are still struggling with making sure part of our income goes into savings each month. You're absolutely right that it's way more difficult to budget for more than one person--glad you two are planning ahead on that.
I would suggest, though, that you somehow fit a small amount of 'date funds' (for cheap dinners, matinee movies, etc) at least once or twice a month into your budget. Married dates are the best! Luckily you guys also love hiking and the outdoors so you can do those dates for free! =)
Andrew and I were laughing the other day when we were talking about our first year of marriage. We were living in Provo and Andrew was making minimum wage working in a chair factory. The first time we went grocery shopping I was almost in tears because our cart was so full and I was not used to having to buy a lot of food for just me. I kept saying, "How are we going to afford to feed you?" Looking back we have so many fun memories of that time even though we were so poor. You're right, as long as you pay tithing everything will work out. You will be amazed at how the Lord will bless you as you put him first. I know, because it has happened to us time and time again.
About that note, don't explain your jokes to people. It's never funny afterwards and if they didn't get it, they're probably not going to be impressed now they understand it. Because they're dumb. The best thing to do with those people is walk away backwards, shaking your head slowly. And then never contact them again.
Steve and I use the excel spread sheet for our budgets. you will be okay, when you get married, you'll get lots gifts from people who loves you guys so much. Those helped a lot. My pay check is direct deposited into my accounts, one to checking, and one to saving. I only see the checking accounts, and the savings i just try to pretend that it doesn't exists. i was amazed on how much money i saved just this year along. Hang in there!! o, if you have other chinese friends, invite them hahah... they give red envelops (with cash in it) =^.^=
I liked your play on words in the title :) I know you've heard it before, but you'll be taken care of!
3 Ne. 13: 33
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
You have such a humble heart, I know you'll know what to do!
I've never seen longer comments :)
Hey if you guys are interested, we have a really simple and awesome excel spreadsheet that keeps our budget going and we can see what we're spending in every category monthly, yearly. But it sounds like you've got things under control :)
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