The word budget and I can hear the overall sigh oh goodness what is she doing? Why is she talking about budgets those are not fun!!!
What if I told you?
That budgeting can be fun, and can be easy!!!
What would you say?
Would you want to hear more?
I am ready to help you!!!
Let me start by saying that I am not a financial expert I am not an accounting expert I am just someone who found Dave Ramsey and The Budget mom on social media these two changed my view of budgets and helped me understand budgeting and now I enjoy it and so I thought I should share with my readers!
Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball method
This completely changed the way I look at debt payoff
I have credit cards, I don’t regret credit cards I just wish I would have utilized them better. My story: I had a medical emergency and was out of work for 6 months over Christmas season, I used my store credit card and put all of Christmas on it, the balance just kept growing and growing and got out of control and I am paying it off every month, never could see me getting anywhere couldn’t see the end for the tunnel.
When I discovered the debt snowball effect payoff plan, it intrigued me so I researched it more and here is the basics of how it works
Take all of your debt get the totals don’t worry about interest rates(although I did make a note of the interest rates and fees associated with each card)
You are going to focus on the smallest debt this is the one that you are going to pay off first and pay more than the minimum payment, the other debts pay the minimum payments. The more you can pay on the smallest debt the quicker you will be on your way to a debt free life!
Do you know where every penny goes?
Before I found The budget mom on social media, I had no idea either so don’t worry if you don’t!
Budgeting by paycheck is a big focus with the budget mom
knowing how much comes in (income) and exactly how much goes out(expenses) every month is key
I have some really cute budget planner inserts that you can print and place in your planner go here to see those budget planner worksheets
The budget mom is big on cash spending and has the GREAT ideas of cash envelopes for different spending categories, you don’t spend using plastic means you are more cognizant of what you are spending. Also documenting everything that you spend is important too, giving everything a category
Some common categories
- cash
- bills
- loans
- credit
- food
- spending
- gifts/ charity
- events
- car
- home
Again, you can go here to see all printable planning worksheets