Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Envelope System, Day 15

Yesterday ended the first pay period of our new Envelope System. We are very, very pleased with the results. I was nervous at first since we took a trip to Florida over the 4th and other trip to Mobile last weekend. Then there were a couple birthdays thrown in there. But we managed to do it all on the set amount of cash we pulled out at the beginning of the month. We did use the debit card once on gas, but that was IT. I'm amazed at the amount of money left over that was about to go to paying our credit card.

Today is the start of another pay period. We technically got paid yesterday, because our bank releases the funds early. But we "pretend" to not get paid to day to simplify out plan. We sat down after dinner again last night and went over the money from the previous pay period, and made a budget for the next. Then we went to the ATM (we don't have any local branches of our bank) and withdrew our cash for the next 2 weeks. Here's how it looks:

Grocery/HBA: $120
Spending Money; $100
Entertainment/Misc: $100
Pet: $20
Travel: $40
Gifts: $60
Gas: $75

I also was shocked at how fast the pay period went by. Normally, I am stressed and praying for pay day to get here because I need more money. But I actually forgot it was even payday until I checked my account yesterday. That just doesn't happen here, and it was total wake up call. When you tell your money where to go, you have total control over it. It DOES NOT control you.


Hope everyone has a great afternoon!

0 comments: