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Re: Same old story
I can answer your spending money question as to what I do.
I sat down and came up with a budget and I use a cash only system.
After all my bills are paid, I have approximately $800 left PER PAY.
Gas $100
Groceries $200
Freedom Account $300
Credit card $200
Every pay day, I go to the bank and refill my gas card with $100 whether I need it or not. If on pay day there is already $100 remaining on the card, I transfer that money directly to the credit cards.
I would do the same with the grocery money if the grocery store I use had gift cards. However, I shop at Aldi's and I haven't found gift cards there yet. So for Aldi, I use the envelope system you are talking about. I simply take out $200 and put it in an envelope. This fund, for me, is for all food and toiletries, including eating out. Let's say on pay day I still have $50 remaining in the envelope. I subtract that $50 from the budgeted $200 which leaves $150. I take $150 cash from the bank and add it to the $50 remaining in the envelope making the budgeted $200 again. This leaves $50 still in the bank which I then send directly to the credit cards.
The freedom account is basically my savings account. I send $300 to my savings account every pay day to cover less frequent payments throughout the year. For me, I decided on things like daycare, Christmas and birthday gifts, amusement park passes, car maintenance, etc. I added up the cost of each and divided it by 26 pays (bi-weekly pay). This came out to $300 for us.
The $200 toward the CC is self-explanitory. By sending it bi-weekly and not monthly, it is twice the minimum payment and we have it set up with the bank to be sent to the credit card company every two weeks. This way we always meet the minimum payment and we never have late fees. This is in addition to any other money we can throw at it, including money from the grocery money, gas money, DH's overtime, and second job.
In our budget, we haven't left much room for fun. We've only been living on this system for one month, so we'll see if no fun becomes a problem or not. Right now, we have committed to this bare minimum system for one full year. We figure we can live like this as long as there is a time limit for it. We will re-evaluate our plan at this time next year. We will then either relax and just pay a set amount on the credit card or we will see that we can have it paid it off in just a few more short months. I don't know yet, but I want that debt gone!
This is just an idea of how we are tackleing our debt.
I can answer your spending money question as to what I do.
I sat down and came up with a budget and I use a cash only system.
After all my bills are paid, I have approximately $800 left PER PAY.
Gas $100
Groceries $200
Freedom Account $300
Credit card $200
Every pay day, I go to the bank and refill my gas card with $100 whether I need it or not. If on pay day there is already $100 remaining on the card, I transfer that money directly to the credit cards.
I would do the same with the grocery money if the grocery store I use had gift cards. However, I shop at Aldi's and I haven't found gift cards there yet. So for Aldi, I use the envelope system you are talking about. I simply take out $200 and put it in an envelope. This fund, for me, is for all food and toiletries, including eating out. Let's say on pay day I still have $50 remaining in the envelope. I subtract that $50 from the budgeted $200 which leaves $150. I take $150 cash from the bank and add it to the $50 remaining in the envelope making the budgeted $200 again. This leaves $50 still in the bank which I then send directly to the credit cards.
The freedom account is basically my savings account. I send $300 to my savings account every pay day to cover less frequent payments throughout the year. For me, I decided on things like daycare, Christmas and birthday gifts, amusement park passes, car maintenance, etc. I added up the cost of each and divided it by 26 pays (bi-weekly pay). This came out to $300 for us.
The $200 toward the CC is self-explanitory. By sending it bi-weekly and not monthly, it is twice the minimum payment and we have it set up with the bank to be sent to the credit card company every two weeks. This way we always meet the minimum payment and we never have late fees. This is in addition to any other money we can throw at it, including money from the grocery money, gas money, DH's overtime, and second job.
In our budget, we haven't left much room for fun. We've only been living on this system for one month, so we'll see if no fun becomes a problem or not. Right now, we have committed to this bare minimum system for one full year. We figure we can live like this as long as there is a time limit for it. We will re-evaluate our plan at this time next year. We will then either relax and just pay a set amount on the credit card or we will see that we can have it paid it off in just a few more short months. I don't know yet, but I want that debt gone!
This is just an idea of how we are tackleing our debt.
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