Life has finally slowed down a bit for us. After each of the bar exams that I've taken, I've sent some serious 'getting the household organized' time. This has been a process that has involved: junking out and donating a lot of stuff we weren't using, organizing the kitchen so we have only the items we regularly use in the cabinets, and that they are located in prime position (stuff not of daily use is kept in my storage room), getting the clothes organized, etc. I did a whole entire house organization the beginning of march and it is time to go through my storage room and garage again to keep things tidy.
The next step has been to attack finances. Looking at finances really is a lot like (for those of us who LOVE eating) taking stock of your physical health. It can be painful, and you have to be brutally honest with yourself to make changes. William and I are going to be paying off student loans for a very long time.
Now that I have the time to take a deep breath, it is time for us to get into some serious habits so that we can become more financially free. What I have done over the last few weeks (remember that this is a process. It doesn't happen over night, and - just like eating too much of foods i shouldn't - this is going to be a daily battle.):
I printed out all the records of every credit, debit, checking and savings account we have and looked at the records for four weeks. I made a list of everything we HAVE to pay: mortgage, car insurance, utilities, etc. I was happily surprised to the total amount for our bills was lower than I had expected. I called our auto-insurance provider and was able to get our monthly payments down by $20/month. I called our utility providers and got on the 'budget plan' where we are paying the same amount each month.
The system we (and when I say we, I mean "I" - I am blessed with a husband who goes along with most of my crazy plans!) have worked out is that we will keep the cash in our account to pay for all of our necessary bills and for gas. So I pay bills online, and we only use our debit cards for gas.
And then we employ the envelope system. William and I each have a monthly allowance we can use however we choose. We have a grocery budget, a household items budget, and a 'kids' budget. One of the thing I most enjoy about being a mom is taking the kids out to do fun things. We have a science center pass - but parking is $5. So when I take the kids to the science center, the parking will come out of that budget allotment. When I paid for their summer swimming lessons, I took part of it out of the household budget, and part of it out of the kids budget.
Next month we are going to add a 'date night' envelope. I also was going to add a fast food envelope, but have decided against that. If I want something for me, I'll take it out of my allowance. For a special treat for the kids, it can come out of their fun fund, etc. This has naturally cut down on our fast food grabbing - which is good.
I am learning how to use cash at the self check outs in stores - it's different. Being totally honest with what our financial situation is, making a plan and sticking to it has been so calming and gratifying. We are just a few weeks into this, but I can see how this system is really going to help us enjoy a higher quality of life as we are in control of the money we have and not spending money we cannot afford on things we don't need.
