BUDGETING PLANS!!

When we first had gotten married, I wondered how we would have enough money to pay the BIG items on our list. Like, insurance (fell due once a year), rent each month and the bigger items that MUST be paid.

I was kinda living from paycheck to paycheck after I had gotten a job and sure wanted money to pay the bigger items when they fell due. My husband wasn't as concerned about this, since he hadn't lived from paycheck to paycheck before he was married, so it would go along just like it did prior to marriage. (I guess, that is why he was a tad concerned about my spending all my paycheck just a few days before we married.)

I came up with a solution on my own. I divided the bill up and each paycheck I put X amount in an envelope for that particular bill. This amount of money was NEVER, NEVER to be taken out until the bill was due and paid. You know what? It worked!! No matter how crude it was, it worked!! We never lacked money for any bill that came in. One thing, I guess, it would have been better had I put it in the bank to get a little interest. Well at least, I was thinking in the right direction.

When I went grocery shopping at first, my husband asked me what a certain item cost. I couldn't give him an answer. He said to me--"Don't you compare prices on items?" Well, no!
Not a very good idea. When I was single, I couldn't buy in bulk, or out of season clothes, because the paycheck only had enough to buy essentials for that week. I bought toothpaste in small tubes, because the big tubes would eat up too much of that weeks pay. He helped me see the light on this "folly" way of thinking.

Then we wanted to buy a television. We had the money in the bank saved, but I asked dad if he would loan us the money, since I knew we would pay him back, but I wasn't sure we would pay the savings account back. My dad went along with my immature thinking and loaned us the money. I was right, we paid dad back in installments, but no interest. Dad didn't want any interest.

This was my "humble" way of getting on a budget and putting away money to pay each bill as they came in and enough laid back to save for unexpected bills.

Wisdom--Make a plan, stay on your plan, and make your plan WORK! Today we don't necessarily have these kinds of problems, so we "SPLURGE" if we want to, but you know what, we still cling to the conservative side of spending, even today.