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In the last few months, I have been trying to get all our family's financials in order. Things have gotten so out of whack and we have gotten off coarse from the goals we are trying to achieve. Hence my last few post regarding food budgeting. So to get on the same page, this was my attempt to implement something new to keep us on track, so we can change our direction and bring us to a place where we can save for our future. This new meeting keeps us focused on where we want to go and accountable, so we make every effort to get there.
First, I bought a small $1 store monthly calendar and labeled it Outgoing. Weekly as I would spend any type of money on bills, gas, groceries, or at TJ Maxx, I would put it in the box for the day I spent it. This is so I can keep good records, so when I prepare for our monthly meeting, I have everything in one place. Then, after the month is complete, I add up my numbers and get a total for each item we were going to discuss.
These are a few that we go over:
Eating Out
Gas/ fuel
Extra (example: clothes, Wawa, or kids sports)
Food - Store frequency
Credit Card Balance - business expenses
Paying off mortgage
You can add many things to your list that would be personal to your and your family's goals and aspirations. Currently, we are not saving for our future as we would hope. However, if you can save it, you should add that to your list to discuss. How much did you
save this month, and where do you want to put it?
I want to focus on reducing our monthly excess like eating out, extra store trips, and our food budget. To do that, we need to know the numbers and get a handle on what we spend to realize where we can cut. Then the money we can cut could be used somewhere more appropriate, like reducing debt or saving.
Goals:
Know our numbers
Realize where you can cut
Where will you allocate the money you are cutting?
What did you do better this month than the prior?
What can you do better next month?
I hope to be diligent in paying off our mortgage. This year makes our 14th year here at our residence. So I want to make it a real focus to pay it off in the next few years. If we take this meeting seriously and keep our numbers, we can make giant strides to meet this goal.
Do you have a financial meeting? What helps your family do good in the finance department?