Money Journey-Budgeting

8/12/12

I haven't written about our money journey lately but I wanted to share some things we are doing to keep finances on track. We have always had a budget and have not always followed it. There have been times where I have been too controlling about it and Kyle has gotten frustrated with me. You see, I'm the saver and he's the spender. When you get married and combine different personalities/ways of doing things sometimes you just have to step back and figure out what works for you so you tear off each other's heads. Ha.

Anyways, I had to completely back off of money for a while because I felt it was the best thing for us at that time. But lately I have prayed about how I can be a wife that helps us with finances. So we both agreed that I should keep track of the budget. Kyle made an awesome spreadsheet that allows me to type in all our transactions, income, and see what our budget is. When I put in a transaction it pulls from the right category of our budget so we know how much we are spending on each thing. This is so great because now I can have more peace about going to the grocery store or what bills are left to pay for the month.

The other thing I am using is a grocery and meal spreadsheet. I am keeping track of all my purchases from the grocery store and how much each item costs. This allows me to break down meals I make to know how much each one costs us. Now I can go more prepared to each store with knowing how much I plan to spend....plus, it is helping me see price differences in stores. WOW. What a difference. Let me share...

Block of cheese from Walmart...regular price $2.58. From Aldi.....$1.79

Honey Nut Cheerios.....$3 or more. From Aldi.....$1.59

Greek Yogurt from Walmart $1.00....from Aldi $.89

Low fat cream cheese from Walmart is at least $1.89 but from Aldi it's $1.19

Cheese-itz from most stores $2.50-$3.00 ($2.00 on a good sale)...from Aldi $1.49

Buying ingredients for a homemade pizza and making one costs about $3.00 from Walmart. Making one with ingredients from Aldi costs less than $2.50. These are just a few examples. If I can save this much continually, what a difference in our budget! Especially when it's stuff I buy week after week.

I don't buy everything from Aldi because there's a lot of processed foods but they are getting more organic and better quality options for less money. I can get organic soy milk there and I just found all natural peanut butter that doesn't have junk in it.

So those are a couple things I'm doing. Hope this gives you ideas!