Remember the little song "Start at the very beginning ... a very good place to start ... "?
Well we had so much commotion over our Financial Peace blog and so many questions and it hasn't stopped yet, so we decided to go on to Financial Peace, part 2. Making a budget!
Kim said "WOW this is HUGE, let's turn this into a
One of the questions being asked of me most IS ...
"How did you know to start a budget at such a young age and what was your first budget like?"
SO let me start with a little story :-) This old geezer of mine was an old romantic himself years ago. Little girls in high school took numbers and stood in line to date him. :8) He was all about opening doors for his dates and bringing them flowers ... and doing sweet little things.
I was a work at my job as billing clerk at Bonifield's in their office behind Big Johns one day and geezer came by on my break ... and this was before we married ... and he had this little bundle of flowers and he said "I hope you like these because I just got fined for picking them in Fort Massac" :8) But the cop was nice and let me keep them."
He was ALWAYS bringing me flowers and little gifts and often things he'd make for me himself. And he was about as romantic as they come ... Frankie Avalon and Annette didn't have anything on US! :-)
And he STILL brings me little surprises now and then.
BUT the night before we got married ... the only thing he wanted to talk about was a budget we were about to go on in 2 days. I HAD NEVER EVER HEARD A WORD OUT OF HIS MOUTH ABOUT MONEY! :-(
He was saying "We'll have to do this and we'll have to do that and blah blah blah" And finally I said "STOP!!!" "In 24 hours I am about to be very intimate for the first time in my whole life and the last thing I want to talk about tonight is how broke we already are and how we're going to stretch pennies." lol True Story! Geezer ... the teen idol of Massac County ... was planning our budget the night before our wedding night. :8) And he's been playing with a budget ever since that day.
But folks are wanting to know how we made out our first budget ... and really it was very simple! I worked at Bonifield's and he was in the army. But I was going to leave my job and go to Colorado Springs with him and he said he wanted me to always be a stay at home wife. So we logged his monthly income and the expenses we would have from day one as a couple.
Now we didn't log into the budget "Supper out 2 nights a week!" OR "Going to the movies every Saturday night" or even "clothing expense" OR "miscellaneous".
There was NO MONEY for new clothes or miscellaneous. We were a bare bones couple and he intended us to stay that way until we had a good wad of money in the bank. By the time that happened ... we were so used to scrounging it had become 2nd nature so we've just kept it up through the decades.
We took our total income and for fun let's say it was $50 a month. :-)
Then we'd log down:
Rent $20 a month
Phone $3 a month
Insurance $1 a month
Water and lights $2 a month
Food $15 a month
Gas for vehicle $4
Now these are make believe figures ... but you'll get my point
SO if our monthly income was $50
and our out GO totaled $45 a month
that would leave us $5
Now MOST folks would be scratching their heads wondering what in the world they could run out and spend that $5 on. But not my old geezer ... he was socking measly pennies in our bank account and letting it draw interest ... a mega fraction of a cent a month :8)
He would cash his check from the post and we'd make 'envelopes' and we'd have an envelope for food, one for gas, one for rent, one for phone, etc. So we knew how much we had to spend on what and it was easier to watch every single penny that way.
Now don't be feeling sad that we were in Colorado Springs scrounging pennies because let me tell ya ... we have always been 2 people that knew how to make the best of a situation. We wormed a little $1 barbecue grill out of our grocery money (one of those little tiny ones you used to be able to buy that was about 12 inches around and about 10 inches high :-) and we'd take that little grill and a tiny package of hamburger up in the mountains that over looked Colorado Springs and we'd sit on our pallet and have hamburgers and cuddle up and talk and dream about our future together and the little family we hoped to have. We just couldn't have possibly been happier than we were in Colorado Springs, scrounging pennies on an measly army income.
One story that geezer loves to tell is the first time we went grocery shopping in Colorado Springs. We hadn't planned our menu's very well and we ran out of food one week before payday. SO we had 1 big bag of potatoes and 50 cents to last us until payday. But do you know what we did? We had potatoes every day for a week and at the end of that week ... we still had our 50 cents. We just made a game of seeing if we could get to the end of the week without borrowing money from someone or calling our parents. AND we DID IT!!! Geezer LOVES that story :-)
I hate spending paper money! :-)
DO YOU REALIZE that once you break a twenty dollar bill ... even the rest of it is as good as gone!
I'll go through the line at the grocery and if I've just run in for something and spent $3 ... I'll scrounge in my billfold and pay for that with change even if I have $100 in paper money in my bill fold.
Because I know good and well if I hand the cashier a $100 or a $20 or even a $10 to take that $3 out of ... I may as well just tell her to 'keep the change' because it's gonna be gone in a heart beat anyway.
We went on the 400 mile yard sale last year and I had been saving change to go on that yard sale. Now we HAD plenty of paper money on us. But I wanted to see if I could save and use change on the whole yard sale ... AND I DID! I didn't spend one paper dollar and came home with tons of good things I had bought with change.
Now there are other ways that I'm kind of free with money.
Whatever Geezer or our kids want from the grocery ... I'm going to find a way to get it. I LOVE to cook and I cook from scratch. And I love to pamper my family.
SO most of our spending money goes to the grocery store or farmer's markets.
I'm also free with tip money when we go out to eat ... which is rare. Because I know that waiters and waitresses make very little money. SO if we have good service ... even though geezer leaves a tip ... I always leave my own tip and mine is usually quite a bit larger than geezer's tip. I LOVE pampering people if I feel they deserve it.
I even carry small gifts on occasion and will sometimes leave a cash tip with a small gift...
Sounds crazy I know ... but remember ... I march to the beat of my own drum and I don't CARE how YOU do it ... this is how "I" do it. :-)
But one day Kim and I were out junking and we were in Paris Tennessee. We stopped in at a little diner to get a sandwich and we had the crankiest and most rude waitress I think I've ever had in my life. She was slinging things and just awful.
SO I ALSO am very outspoken ... and don't let everything just slid under the rug ... because there's just no reason to be rude on purpose to someone who is trying to be nice to you ...
SO when we got ready to leave I wrote a little note and put it with my ONE DOLLAR TIP.
We were driving away and Kim said "What did you write on that note?" I said "I wrote ...."I'm leaving you a one dollar tip because I don't want to leave without giving you 'something' but here's my REAL tip ... If you were a lot nicer ... your tips would be a lot bigger because I'm known for big tips for good service"
Kim just gasped ... She said "MOM ... WHAT if she was cranky and rude because her husband had just died ... or she just lost her house because she couldn't make the payment"
Weeeeeeeeelll I was DEVASTATED and mad as a hornet at myself ... and wanted to go back and leave her a good tip in spite of herself ... but didn't have the time OR THE NERVE to go back.
But that did me in on leaving nasty notes to nasty waitresses :8)
Now I WILL say to a nasty waitress "If you don't mind me saying ... I notice you're very rude today and I just hope what ever is going on ... your day gets better"
That's much better ... gets the point across ... but hopefully leave you in the clear with God ...
CAUSE YOU KNOW ... That rascal is EVERYWHERE and sees absolutely every THING we see and DO
Well ... where do we go with this budget blog from here? I have no clue!
We are not wealthy by any sense of the word. Yet we pay cash for our vehicles and everything we buy and always have.
We keep a vehicle for about 12-15 years ... so we know when we are nearing the 12 year mark on a vehicle it's time to tighten the purse strings and start socking more away.
Geezer kept his old truck 20 years and then only let it go because one of our grandsons needed a vehicle and our old truck was still in really good shape so Geezer just got him a new one and gave his away.
We're just not frivolous spenders even after all these years.
We go buy clothing ONLY if we need something ... never to just be buying it 'just because' ...
You can all do this if you want to bad enough. It's just a matter of whether you want financial security or a new 'pretty something' every week.
Do you NEED a new blouse or something frivolous to make you have a good day?
If you do ... there's more going on in your life that needs fixing than your wardrobe.
And these women carrying these brand name purses that cost $150 to $1,000.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH ... we'd better not even GO there...
I would no more pay over $20 for a handbag than I could sprout wings and fly to the moon for supper.
My FAVORITE price is about $9 ... now that's a good price for a nice handbag and I'm very picky about handbags ...
Kim's right about one thing ... We could make this into a series and talk about this subject from now on. But I wouldn't have a lot of positive things to say about frivolous spending.
So if you're interested ... just give this a try for the Month of September. Plan now ahead of time and see what you can do. List all your income for September and your unavoidable expenses like rent/house payment, utilities, etc.
And just fyi ... a $300 cell phone that is going to cost you another $200 a month to get everybody covered ... is NOT a necessity!
Expensive electronic toys and gadgets are NOT a necessity!
Going shopping and loading down the trunk just because it's the weekend and you've worked all week and need some fun ...? NOPE ... not a necessity IF you want to save some money.
If you 'must' spend money frivolously to be happy ... then you've got a serious problem ... and it isn't at the bank.
So there's no secret to having money ... it's just a matter of not throwing away what you do have when you don't need to ... and making a game out of living within your means.
I've read often that the real wealth of a person is determined by how much they'd be worth if they lost all their money.
We'll be fine ... How about you?
Peace and Love from the Canyon ... and thank you all for stopping by ... until next time ... you are loved ...
There's much more to see, read and explore if you have time... Love, Favorite Home Remedies, Health, Recipes from the Kitchen in the Canyon, Gardening and Such
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