A new budget

This is definitely my least favorite subject to talk about but the most important one in my house. We have 6 people living on one income so we have to be careful of every dollar we spend. Drew and I have talked about a budget for the last few months but have had a hard time sticking to it. I’m not quite sure what our problem is but it is time to figure it out.

One idea that I have thought of was to open a second checking account for any money that does not go to bills. The paycheck is direct deposited into the checking account now so on pay day we can pay the bills that are due and transfer the leftover money minus savings into the new account. We figured out a few weeks ago that we hadn’t been checking the check register with our bank statements since about February and it’s pretty much impossible to get it back straight. So we figured if all that was coming out of the first account was bill money that within a month or so it would straighten back out. It’s an idea at least.

One of my top goals for 2011 is to come up with a budget that works for us and STICK TO IT! With a new baby coming we need to be able to account for every bit of spending that we do. I have managed to get our grocery bill down to a minimum without using coupons but it’s the other spending throughout the month that gets us down.

Here’s what I figure we can do:

*Pay all bills. An estimated amount = $1500 (That’s paying the minimum amounts)

*Take out $80 for spending money for the both of us. ($20 a week each)=$160/month

*Groceries = No more than $250 a month (Anything less will go towards the next month’s groceries)

*Gas for truck: I haven’t added this up yet so January will be my test month to see what we average.

*Kid’s allowance = $30

*Kid’s School Canteen = $30

Those are our main spending areas that definitely come out each month!! Depending on what the truck gas equals each month we should have a considerable amount left over after all of that. The day before the next paycheck is deposited we will zero out the checking account and put whatever is in there into savings.

To go along with this plan we would have to cut out all other spending. Of course we will still have to buy items for the house (such as cleaning supplies, paper products, etc.) and also baby items (diapers, wipes, clothes, etc.) That still shouldn’t use much money so we should be good. I’m going to attempt to make homemade cleaners so we can cut that out of spending also. I’m not much on the cloth diaper thing so we will definitely be buying diapers!!

I’ll keep you updated as I go to make sure I’m staying on track!!

Ashley