Spent a good part of the morning shoveling the sidewalk, driveway, and backyard. I always tell my wife that before the next big storm hits, we'll be ready with a snow blower. If we want to be debt-free, I guess I have to shovel the snow. Where would we get the money for a snow blower while trying to destroy our debt? Maybe I should set aside $50/month so we can get one next year. But then again, I've been saying that for the past 3-4 years =P. Anyway, I broke through the wall of snow that the trucks create at the entrance of my driveway to go to the supermarket. Thank goodness for AWD. So I grab my envelope filled with our grocery budget to pick up a few items.
This is the first time in a while that we're implementing the cash envelope system for our groceries. Our grocery budget was one of the culprits that always made us go over our budget. It's too easy to pay with your debit card because you know there's always money in your bank account, hopefully. Utilizing the envelope method ensures us that we'll only spend $500 per month on groceries. If we run out of the funds before the month is up, either, we don't eat, or have to dig through our fridge and be creative.
The other budget that we always go over is our miscellaneous fund. This fund is used for gas for our cars (thankfully my wife only works less than a mile away from our house), going out, buying presents for birthdays, my lunches at work (I should start brown bagging to save money), and other "miscellaneous" items that come up. I was debating on whether or not to use the cash envelope method for this budget but it'll be too hard since we order a lot of items from Amazon. Gotta love Prime!
So far, our Mint budget is looking good. No budgets have gone over yet (knock on wood) but it's only day 3 of the month so need to stay focused.
To be continued...
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