Jason and I went through a course called Financial Peace University, by Dave Ramsey. He always says, “Live like no one else now, then you will live like no one later.” This means that if you will sacrifice now to get all your debt paid, then you will get to live in abundance later.
Our instructor gave us a budget template that we tweaked to fit us. I would like to offer our template to you. Please feel free to tweak however you need to best fit your life. It’s a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, so you will need to have Excel for it to work. All the formulas are built in, so you shouldn’t have to do anything there. At the end of the month, just highlight all the boxes you use and copy and paste it into a new tab. Then, delete all the info that needs to change and label the tab for the month and year. We go through every few days and update the budget by writing down how much we spent in each category on each day. It’s really simple once you get the hang of it. Also, I would recommend spending the first month or two just writing everything down without plugging in budget numbers so that you can get familiar with the spreadsheet, and so that you can learn where your money goes so that you will have an idea about how much to budget for each item. Jason tries to take us down 10% in each column ever-so-often so that we slowly work our way down in certain categories. And, in some months we plan to splurge in certain areas.
We started with me basically planning and executing the budget, but I hated it, and I was terrible at following it. Call me old fashioned but I always said that I just wanted a guy who would hand me an allowance and send me on my way. I finally confessed my frustrations to Jason and he happily took over. Now, when he’s planning the budget for the next month I just tell him what I think I’ll need, i.e. I need my hair done this month, I need to order contacts, I need new shoes, etc. And, I follow the budget better because I know that he’s going to see everything I spend. I like it so much better this way, and it’s working for us now. You will have to figure out what works best for you.
Lastly, cash vs. cards. Jason and I use our debit cards for everything. Dave Ramsey recommends a cash system, but it doesn’t work for us. I like using our debit cards because we see every single thing that comes through the bank. When we spend cash we don’t know how to categorize it, or even that it’s gone. So, we use our debit cards. Jason sees on our online bank register exactly where I’ve been and what I’ve bought and I see the same about him. It’s a nice way to stay accountable to each other. Again, use what works for you.
Turns out I’m not sure how to upload a document, and it’s almost 1:00 in the morning, so if you would like to have this spreadsheet please email me and I’ll send it to you. alifeplannedisneverasexpected@gmail.com.
This is what it looks like:
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