Friday, November 26, 2010

On the 4th Day of Christmas - Budget Saving Tips





I'm not sure if you have heard of the name Dave Ramsey?
He's a famous Financial adviser! He's great!
Aaron went to one of his counseling classes a few years back & since then
we were taught a new method for saving money!
Its seems kind of cheesy, or that's what I thought when he introduced me to it, but it works!

You mark an envelope for each bill, hobby, or expense
divide your paycheck up [according to how you get paid]
and each paycheck you put a certain amount of money in there.

For Example:
Let's just say you get paid $100 your next paycheck -
My Envelopes:
Gas- $10
Electric Bill - $20
Clothes - $2
Christmas-$4
Doctor - $5
Groceries- $12
Car Payment - $15
Emergencies- $10
Birthdays- $5
Extra-$17


You don't take a anything from that envelop until the time has come!
You may add vacations, certain people, crafts, etc. It doesn't matter, whatever you spend your $$$ on!
Any $$$ left over [after putting your regular amount in the envelope], you place in the extra envelope!
Simple as that! It works!
Since Aaron & I started this, we've paid a LOT of stuff off. We are very close to being debt free!
That's right, I said debt free!
We pay everything with cash!!!!

That's one method we use for saving!
Another random method I use, and just recently started using is...

I save my dollar bills!
Nooo, not every dollar that comes my way, but the ones that have the letter B on them!
[Let's see if you can figure out why I picked the letter B]

You don't have to save the B's. You can save any letter!
I did this for Aaron's birthday too. I saved the A dollar bills!
& I started saving the C's for Christmas a couple of months ago.
I don't have many, but it's money toward my hugh Christmas list!
You don't necessarily have to match the letter to what you are saving for. Depending on where
you live in the U.S you may not see many A's, B's, or C's.
I think the lowest letter on the alphabet I saw was the letter L, and that's because Aaron
brought it back from Indiana!

So, have you guessed why I'm saving the B's???

Other than that, I don't do anything else really.
Besides try to shopping as early as possible... which most of the time never happens,
I don't have much advice!
Oh wait... I am a proud coupon shopper! I use them all the time, when I can!

B is for Bride!



Day 1: Christmas/Holiday traditions

Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks
Day 3: Most meaningful gift/best gift you've received
Day 4: Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season
Day 5: Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Show Special

Day 6: Gift ideas (what do YOU want? We all have family/friends reading our blogs
...so let them know!)
Day 7: Holiday Craft/DIY (If you don't make anything, what do you WISH you could make?)

Day 8: Least favorite thing about the Holidays
Day 9: Favorite Holiday recipe
Day 10: Favorite Christmas Songs/Caroles
Day 11: New Year Resolutions
Day 12: Show us your decorations (indoor/outdoor)
Day 13: Favorite Cookie Recipe
Day 14: Oprah's Favorite Things: What item(s) would you want if you were in the audience?

5 comments:

Kit said...

Great tips! I love the envelope idea!

Aly @ Analyze This said...

I love Dave Ramsey! I have used some of this tips/tricks before! The snowball affect. Wipe out one of your biggest debts (it will make you feel good to focus on paying off one big thing)...Mine was my mattress! It was roughly 1,200 and once I paid that off, I felt like ANYTHING was possible! Now, I just have a small, manageable balance on my credit card. I can't wait to get that paid off!

Alright, now I have written you a novel and my entire life story! Haha!

Hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving, Jess! Xoxo

Dawn said...

Great ideas. I wish I was better at saving. Great blog.

April Rowell said...

Love the envelope system idea. I'm going to try that out this year. Hope I can also be debt free :)

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