DIY Budget Board

Is it some unspoken rule that you must be poor to be a newlywed?
Seriously.
Also, every time you feel like you might finally be saving some money the Universe must get news of it and then it tells your windshield wipers to run over each other while its raining thus impeding normal wiping capability and resulting in expensive repairs and bad driving visibility.
Thanks Universe for trying, but we are going to make it any way.
You know why?
Because we budget.


A few weeks ago I made this budget board for us to start getting a better handle on our finances.  Its empowering when you know where your money is going and how much of it is going there.


What you'll need:
string
nails to tie string around
tiny clothes pins
envelopes
a large picture frame
and some discipline and will power (this is the hardest of all of the supplies to find)

This idea came to me one Monday while I was driving to work and I was thinking about how we could budget better.  It works well because:

1. Spending cash is harder than swiping a credit card.  

-When you are holding your hard earned money in your hands you are less likely to be impulsive with it.

2.  What you see is what you get.  

-When an envelope runs out of money, its out and thats it.

-Sure you can pull from other places, but it is a bit of a sacrifice to have to take the money from somewhere else.

3.  Everything has its place.

-When you place cash in to each envelope there is no room for careless impulsive spending.

-When you go grocery shopping take only the "groceries" envelope and it will limit your spending.

(I like to slip an extra $20 in here every once in a while)

We can dream right?

By no stretch of the imagination do we have this all under control, but we are on the way.

Let's just hope no robbers read our blog.

So, if you are a robber, the envelopes are just a decoy and the money is really somewhere else....