A couple of days ago retro daddy came home and said words that would strike fear into any lady who loves to shop – ‘can we sit down and go over our expenses. I just want to see where all our money is going’………………………… I managed a little half hearted ‘ok’. It’s not the first time he’s said this and it won’t be the last. Retro daddy grew up as one of 7 children with a banker for a father. They ran a tight ship. I was a banker and an accountant and we have a family of 7 but I do not run a tight ship in the money department. But I love that I’m married to retro daddy the saver.
The reality of running a household is that there are always expenses and money going out the door. Someone needs new shoes or a present or it’s their birthday or something has broken at home. I do always shop around for the best price and there have been times when I’ve sat down and written a budget but it hasn’t lasted long. I love to shop. I always have. And now that I’m bringing money into the house I like to treat myself. To nice things.
And I often get the question how do you afford a large family these days. And I won’t lie. There are times that we’ve really struggled and haven’t had much. Retro daddy almost needed to go for a run and let off steam when the electricity bill arrived. And I don’t really blog about the family budget because it’s not that exciting but I thought I’d see if my readers out there are budgeters or not. Keep retro daddy happy and all of that. Maybe if I blog about budgeting he’ll be happy with me and won’t actually make me sit down and do one!
retro daddy the budget man
So do you budget? Crafters, do you have a craft budget? Shoppers, do you have a clothes budget? Or are you married to someone like retro daddy. I know some ladies out there are the ones who control the finances and run a tight ship. I need to take a bit of your advice, I think. Talk to me!
Hi, we use an online program (ANZ money manager) even though we aren’t with that bank – we are with a bank you would be very familiar with. It is linked to all our accounts to track expenditure so we are budgeted and accountable right down to the last cent. And yes I have a “hobby” budget. Do I stick to it? Sort of. Best of luck I think every family should have a budget. Susan
We don’t have a family budget as such but I am the one that takes care of our finances. We save for family holidays etc and we do allow ourselves treats – I’m not strict just careful with what we spend. We are on one income as I want to be a stay at home mum. I’m happy to go without things in order to be able to do this.
YES! A family budget is a wonderful thing! We are also a one income family, I do house cleaning and crafting on the side for a bit of pocket money but that’s so the Mr. doesn’t have to give me an allowance. While he’s the budgetter and keeps us on track; I am a very thrifty person myself. I HATE to spend anything on myself and when it comes to my three littles, I make sure I buy off season; accept gently used hand me downs; shop for gently used clothing at the thrift shops; and only buy clothes myself and our children need. I’ve never been a believer in having a huge closet full of clothes that rarely get worn. Our biggest weekly expense is food. My children LOVE TO EAT!!! I am at the grocery at least 5 times a week replenishing fruits , veggies and milk. I’m, for the most part, a stay at home Mom and LOVE it! The only way we could afford this FAMILY-FIRST lifestyle is by sticking to our budget.
Absolutely, it’s a must for us. My partner and I are on the pension. He has severe mental illness, and we just also found out he has some other health issues, and I’m his carer.
We’re lucky that we own our house outright, so that takes a lot of pressure off! I love nice things too, though, so if I want something special, I search and search until I can get it at a bargain, if and when possible.
I’m not crafting at the moment, but hanging to get back onto it!
Hi Corrie,
You know it is even just handy to know where your leakages are. and maybe cut off some stuff. You know we all usually end up bleeding from somewhere and by looking at where your cash is going then you can make some adjustments or just reign it in a little. Ive curbed my lifestyle dramatically since home ownership and it has been really hard. I have struggled for a number of years. But you know. Most of the stuff I was buying was just STUFF. And truthfully I dont need that much STUFF in my life. 
I cant believe you DONT budget. LOL
As a single girl with wortgage – I have to budget. I have a mortgage cause I budgetted,
My car is falling apart, I dont upgrade as soon as something hits the market, I hit the factory outlets for massive savings,
Fabric is my one weakness but you know im even having a reality on that too of late. I have a roomfull of fabric and no time to sew. So Ive even scaled that one back. My thoughts if i dont really love it to bits and I mean totally love it then I wont buy it. I have so much in the cupboard it is crazy and there is such beautiful lines coming out all the time. I cant have it all. LOL as much as I want to.
Oh and FYI, I taught my folks how to budget at the ripe of age of 70. LOL Never too late to start. They are seriously into now. Funny as. But they plan out their purchases and dont have a massive credit card debt. Which was a big relief for them..
happy budgetting.
Kath
Until recently we have never really budgeted and our money would always seem to vanish in the blink of an eye. I’m very much like yourself Corrie and was born to shop but after recently experiencing tougher times and having 6 small cherubs ourselves it sort of became a necessity for us to sit down and nut it all out. We too are also operating on only one income but have future plans for me to return to some kind of paid work even if it’s only something small (Our eldest is 10 and our youngest is 5months). Afterall we believe that it is important for myself to spend my time nurturing our children, that and the fact that I love watching them grow!! At first I was very disgruntled about having to have a budget but now I love it. We try and account for all expenses and try to save a regular amount each week. I have also learnt to try and look at areas where we can cut back and save, ie. growing our own vegies, having our own chickens (we are lucky enough to live on a farm), meal plan and bake to my hearts content. By doing this I then can have to mindset of the money I save in some areas I am able to spend it on the things we love. I love the fact now that I know exactly where our money is going and that it is being spent wisely. I also no longer have to feel the guilt of buying something and telling my husband the old line of…………..”this old thing I’ve had it forever haven’t you ever noticed dear”In a sense I sort of have found a new found freedom and I’m modelling good habbits to our children and that’s what I love the most!!
For six months of the year we live on an extremely strict budge (ALL of our expenses including rent, electricity, food shopping and phone/Internet are kept at $500 or less a week). By doin this we are able to not only build up a life savings (which we will use to buy land outright one day, and then build a house – mortgage free) but also facilitates six months of travel for us EVERY year.
The best way to stick to a budget for us is to focus on our goal of travel. I also consider every dollar I spend as one minute my husband has to be away from the family – it’s a very confronting currency.
Good luck te budgeting (or the evading of the budget hehe)xox
where to you travel for the other 6 months???
we travel all over Australia in our caravan or just in our ute with a rooftop tent. From 2014 onwards we are going to begin travelling the world.
that works for me too – seeing expenditure as how many hours/minutes/days etc do we have to work to pay for this?? and is it worth it, Really had some hard lean years that taught me tough lessons on needs and wants and a strong desire to get out of renting and buy our own place is now driving the get out of debt, stop wasting money and save machine that I have become. There is a certain sense of freedom in me controlling our money rather than money controlling us, And great joy in being able to pay a bill when it is due or even before its due instead of the days of being almost fearful of opening the letterbox in case yet another scary bill was in there, I think its about perspective – see the budget as liberating….and factor into the budget the little treats or craft $ etc or whatever it is you know fills you up and keeps you sticking at it. Its true that if its too rigid and strict and no fun built in that you will rebel and not stick at it and see it as controlling you. Its your money you choose to spend it how you want and make it work for you
(excuse the spellig errors I am typing on my phone and can barely see what I am writing, lol)
We are a family of 6 on one income and yucky monthly pays :(. We have found that the best thing for us was to have our gas and electricity on monthly payment plans so we don’t have to worry about those bills, ever! We have chosen not to have credit cards and we don’t fall for the trap of having all the new gadgets. We only update when we have to. We own our cars. Basically if we can’t buy it outright we save longer or use lay by, no credit charges = more money on our pockets. I shop once a fortnight and have a well socked pantry and have a chest freezer so we can buy meat in bulk / on special. Impulse buying at the supermarket is a killer to any budget. I always feed the kids before going out and have snacks for the youngest in my bag! So in summing up, we don’t have a budget as such but we have thought about the expenses we ave and the best way to manage them. It seems to have worked or us as I have been able to fulfill my dream of being a SAHM
Hi Corrie, I started following your blog a little while ago and am surprised to learn that you do not budget. With five kids I’d have thought it a necessity.
I have three children, my hubby works full time and myself part time. I am the budget maker, the ‘NO’ sayer when hubby wants and wants but we had previously run up a lot of debt by not worrying about money. Im happy to say that after 3 long hard years of tight belts and penny pinching we are about to pay off the last of the debt. Will I be loosening the belts and throwing the budget away? No!
I craft, I am currently working on using as much as possible of a stash that grew stupendously over the pre-budget years and use the dollars made from selling off our unwanted clutter to purchase any new needed. I have embraced thrifting and hand me downs, I meal plan, shop on special/from clearance rack and watch the dollars closely. It is hard work and you can’t always have what you want or have to wait for it but I feel so much better knowing where our money goes and pretty soon will sleep a lot sounder without a lot of debt hanging over our heads.
Something tells me Retro Daddy is not gonna forget, best of luck with it all
We are big budgeters here. We have chosen to live on one wage and that wage isn’t very big. We are low income earners who have a Health Care Card, just to show how low our income is.
But we make it work for us. We don’t have massive expenses at all. I shop frugally, and we still manage to save money most weeks into our savings.
We started off just using a budget template on our computers word processing program. After a few months we knew how we wanted to personalise it. Luckily I had done computing at school and knew some basic spreadsheet stuff so I came up with our own that we have now been using for about 6 years.
Each fortnight we sit down just before pay day and add in what bills have come in etc etc.
I do have a grocery budget and find it fairly easy to stick with it. I have $50/fn for laybys which are 99% clothes. We each have $50/fn ‘pocket money’ each which we can spend how we like. Mine usually goes on crafty supplies. I also spend my earnings from selling my wares how I like. Sometimes it’s on more craft supplies, sometimes it’s on something a little luxurious like going out for dinner, or sometimes I’ll buy us a little something each. Depends what is needed at the time.
By being frugal (and by that I don’t necessarily mean cheap I mean getting the best for our dollar) we are able for me to stay at home which I feel is so important especially when the children are young.
I can relate Corrie!
just takes some adjusting to when you are used to having access to an account, even though that account was often the credit card – which I don’t have access to anymore either 
We dont have an actual written down budget (my husband says its stored in his head!) but he runs a tight ship. The family tax payment goes into my old account that goes straight onto my bills (old loan, mobile phone & credit card payment). I’m a stay at home mum with one about to start school & another due about the same time. I’m in the middle of my uni degree that I do from home too. But because I don’t bring in any income myself (& I have zero self control in a craft store or near little girl clothes!) my husband does everything else. I don’t see the mortage, household bills, we even go grocery shopping as a family so I don’t over spend on food! Haha! As hard as it is having to ask if I can buy anything, it does make me accountable & I really question if we actually NEED it now because I really hate asking for money. BUT it is reassuring to me too because I know we’ll always be financially secure because he is so responsible & I don’t have to worry
This may sound daggy but we have money bags! We have worked outabudget of howmuch we want to spend each week in 4 basic categories – food clothing entertainment and expenses. Each Sunday my husband withdraws the total and we divide the money into the bags! As its needed during the week we grab the cash. Any money we don’t spend is left in the bag cos even if we don’t spend $100 on clothes this week, we will certainly need 2 pairs of school shoes the next! Not every week is on budget but it is really obvious when we are blowing out! It’s a little tediuos but we like it! The rewards have sure been worth it – 3 kids in top private education since preschool and loads of awesome holidays cos we take care of the pennies so they pounds take care of themselves ( that’s what grandma told me!)good luck!
Hi Corrie
I can understand your resistance to having a budget… In our early marriage my husband My husband and I were terrible at managing our money & I used to feel suffocated every time we tried to put a budget in place. But then we got into a mess and got some help to sort ourselves out. We learned that first before you even can set a budget, you have to start by writing down your needs & wants. That helped us set goals and through the process we became really good at managing our money.
I’ve shared our process on my blog in the past which you can read here if you want…http://mummastimetocreate.blogspot.com.au/search/label/%24%24%24%20Matters
I’ve been operating that way for about 5 years now and I wouldn’t be without it.our income is good but it is highly irregular. Feast or famine. So we have to budget or we’d have months or eating rice & not paying our bills before the next surge or income comes. This year we’ve been doing better than ever before and since June we have paid off about $24,000 in debt through sheer hard work. On one income (I’m a sahm).
That sure beats the way we used to live: pay check to pay check!!
So while I know what amind barrier setting a budget can be, great things can happen when you set out to a hike e your goals. It’s all about your mindset and how you define “success” I guess…
Good luck
Kat
Ahem that last bit should read “achieve” not a hike LOL
Sorry
My husband and I each get weekly ‘pocket money’, anything other than bills/petrol/supermarket has to come out of it, e.g. takeaways, clothes, all presents, treats for the kids, craft… The amount has gone up and down over the years depending on our circumstances but I love that I can do whatever I want with it and it stops me nagging about how he spends his money too (well, almost!)
Hi Corrie
My Mum and I have an old saying that P******d women don’t dust or budget! We do track expenditure and try to be intelligent about what is really needed. My hubby used to be a lot like Retro Daddy but has relaxed with time. We are not extravagant people (nor do you seem to be) but we do like nice things. My hubby has been on half pay while doing his MBA with me working very little, with 2 little ones. While we had made good progress with our mortgage (that is going a bit backwards at the moment) we have some investment debt that doesn’t fill us with joy! But I don’t think life is necessarily about measuring success against financial measures – some times this is important, but at other times I think it is missing the point. But it has taken us quite a while to feel comfortable with this notion!
Good luck
Just had that convo with hubby – I am astounded at how much money he spends!! I am writing up the budget as we speak!! You are freaking me out today with these parallels!!
Wow, yes I got told that I could not have something this morning… Its a little slap on the wrist that budget thing, but its essential if you want to get anywhere isnt it… Looking forward to more ideas and posts from you Corrie on this. My style is like yours.
I don’t budget so much as accept that all of my money goes on bills and my little one and that whatever is left over at the end gets left in the bank for next fortnight and the avalanche of bills and expenses that is unending. Being a single parent and a stay at home mum I don’t have much in the way of luxury items, but my daughter is always well dressed and fed, even though a lot of her clothes are the same ones her cousins wore years ago. I’m lucky enough to have a large family that are there to support us.
Nope, no budget here. I think I’m in a similar situation to you, but only 2 children, and of course the Adelaide housing market is not quite Sydney’s! I’m also married to an accountant, and he does like to put the brakes on my spending every now and again – like you, I do love to shop and I seem to have expensive tastes. By choice I work just under half-time, and although my quilting generates a fair bit of bonus income, it comes nowhere near the associated outgoings! But the advantage of accountants is that while they’re a bit budget-conscious, they do also make a very good contribution towards it! I’m sure we could be doing things differently, but who’s to say that would be better?
When we had five kids at home we budgeted for the bills…add up expenses over a year of all major bills like rego, electricity etc..divide by the number of pays you have and open a separate bank account and bank that money in it. There are no surprises that way. Whatever was left after the bills a/c and the mortgage were paid was ours to live off. We always talk together about other purchases just to keep each other in the loop and if one thought the other was going to spend a bit much we’d just discuss it with an open mind. I think the main thing is to manage the money as a partnership and not let the money manage your behaviour!
Yes, of course! I am the budget master in our family. I used to call my husband Spenderella when we were dating, he thought ‘budget’ was a dirty word! I used the envelope system when I was first starting it, but now that I am in the habit of budgeting, I can safely do it all online. Though it must be said it is much harder to keep track of e-money than the real deal , and I am not impervious to the odd blow-out, myself
Absolutely! I manage all the bill payments, and organise the wages into where they need to go. I am usually the “kill-joy” in terms of spending on items, and I cringe when hubby offers to do the shopping for me as he always overspends! Day to day I keep on track using an “envelope system” app on my iphone called EEBA (Easy Envelope Budget Aid). I enter in a weekly “allowance” into my budget areas, such as Incidentals (clothing, shoes, stuff for the kids), Myself (this is my weekly allowance to spend on myself for things like mags and craft items), Groceries, Petrol and Gifts. Every Monday I put the set amount I have budgeted onto the app, then I spend away! I enter every little purchase throughout the week and it helps keep me on track. It has a little marker showing if you are heading towards going over budget and tells you how much you have left for the week. e.g. if I buy something for the kids on Monday and Tuesday, I know I have to take it easy for the rest of the week to stay under budget. Some weeks I don’t spend on say Gifts for the week, so that carries over into the next week as a surplus. Then I have extra for a big purchase that may be coming up. If I go over, it’s not the end of the world. I find it so helpful with the day to day purchases that can add up.
Corrie, We have had a budget for as long as i can remember, My husband put together a Spreadsheet, He should have been an accountant he LOVES numbers we total all our yearly bills and divide it by 52 weeks. Each month I am lucky to have what i need to pay these. Cuts down on the stress. I am now a first time stay at home mum to Grace 11months old.
I started reading your blog after I saw you on the Today show this year, once I started reading your blog i thought wow you have a great life, I was inspired to sew more, finding cute fabrics at spotlight on sale to make clothes for my baby. I’m on a tight budget each week which leaves very little to buy nice things, I still want my daughter to look nice so i started making pj’s, skirts and t-shirts with applique to dress them up. Everyone loves them. I just like to make the most of what I have. I haven’t bought new clothes in a year. I would love to go shopping but would rather own our home by next year. Then we can have more freedom to enjoy the little things.
In saying that I think you do a great job of 5 Beautiful children.
Hi Corrie,
I laughed when I read this because I am exactly the same as you:) I am married to an Accountant and he really likes to watch where all our money goes. We have also just bought a place and are in the midst of organising a renovation , but I love to shop also .
When my hubby says he has been though the accounts to see where all the money goes I break into a cold sweat thinking he might try to reign me in! I work part time but spend more than I make! Definitely no formal budget but if at any time I had to run the outgoing verses incomings I could do it, I know the figures both sides. Xx
Hello,
I am in charge of the finances in our house – I’m the one who tells my husband not to spend any money at the end of the week because there is none left!
Each week, I divide up the pays into different things – I have an account set aside for the bills, and then when they are due I pay them from there, my husband has an account where he gets some money put into each week, and thats money he’s allowed to spend on whatever he wants and i cant argue with it, some money goes into saving, food, our children get a small amount each week into an account they cant touch yet, and then the rest of the money stays in our everyday cheque account for out rent etc to come out of.
I definately need a budget, and i’m ALWAYS up late at night calculating where we can save money. I also have a pretty good food storage which really helps cut down on the weekly food bill!
You are doing a great job! i think budgeting is great – helps you see where all your money is going, and whether its wants or needs, also helps you think about how you can better manage your money.
My short answer is no, but I should and have in the past. I do however track my spending and have got into fairly good habits of mostly buying by need and not want.
Corrie, my husband is an accountant. We keep track of everything we spend (or rather he does) using “SAASU” which is a program that links to your bank accounts and categorizes all you spend into categories you have determined. It learns after a while where to put the expenses. We then have a SAASU meeting every month (where I usually realize I’ve spent too much and need to try better next month). It is very good though as after some time of doing it you really see areas where savings can be made.
We have had a budget ever since I saw Suzie Orman (spelling?)on Oprah years ago. She talked about paying yourself first among other things and I have kept a budget ever since. We have gone through some very tight times and times like now where things are a little easier for us. I do the budgeting and really enjoy it, I am also the tight wad while hubby is more laid back. Like Katy above I too like to withdraw a certain amount out and divide it up and put it into little bags, I like to actually touch it and do it this way. With major bills like electricity, rates etc I put away enough each week to cover that bill so that when it comes the money is there to pay it. We also pay a little bit to ourselves and have a nice amount saved in an interest account to go towards our new house. I have to say though we only have the two children and I work part time at the moment, so that certainly makes a big difference to a budget.
I have come to realise that if I go into a store I will usually come out with something and more lol, so I try to limit those trips.
I have to say though, opening up an electricity bill these days requires some bravery..I usually let mine sit on the counter for a few hours lol.
Thanks for replying to my email regarding kitchen
Tash
We have kind of a budget in our household, even though we don’t have any children yet to mess it up 😉 .
We sum up all the bills and split them by half, except those bills that are personal of course.
We have a special account and card for the foodmoney that if a pain to mess with so we never withdraw from that account 😉 .
And whats left after paying the bills and put in the savings account, that’s our spending money.
The one that has more money helps the other one when we do things together and takes a little heavier burden.
And when we get kids we have decided that we are going to have an account specially for kids stuff.
Hey,
up until recently we just had the one account that we both accessed for all things, pay went in, mortgage, bills spending came out. But we realised we were hemorrhaging money and weren’t sure why (we should have enough to be comfortable and saving)
So we split it down, the mortgage and pay account is now separate and not touched. We have the credit cards that are for fuel and groceries (for flybuys/hot points) and are paid fortnightly so interest free. We have a ‘family fund’ that’s for us to use for outings, fun days zoo visits, lunch out, family bits etc, and a piggy bank each that’s topped up weekly with a modest sum that if we are sensible can be saved to cover pretty much any ‘treats’ we want for ourselves. We also put aside money weekly into a holiday fund as trael is very important.
We don’t ‘budget’ as such beyond that, but as it is it works well to keep everything in order and keep us aware and onto of what we are spending.
(On my ipad, sorry for any typos)
Hi Corrie! I’m like you. I’m another wife of an Accountant with no formal budget. I try to be careful, and mostly I succeed, but yes, I’m also guilty of buying nice things. Although since I’ve had five kids, it seems to be mainly for them. I never have time to shop for myself! I’ve told hubby that for my birthday this year, I just want to go shopping without the kids! My husband goes through the credit cards each month, so he will always comment if we’ve spent too much and tell me if we need to be more careful to make up for that. When we were first married we used to fight about money all the time, but after 15 years, we’ve reached a comfortable stage where we both try to be accomodating with each other about expenditure. It is working, we have completely paid off our mortgage, own our two cars outright, have never been in debt and are very content with our things. We have just a standard middle income, one wage, I love my life as a SAHM. Occassionally I will do a little work, and my husband says that money is for me to choose how to spend. It’s always nice to head to the hairdresser after I’ve worked and know that The Accountant is going to have a hernia when he sees the bill!
Seems like no one thinks this is a boring topic after all 😉
We have a budget here and somehow i am the one who does it all. Hubby has tried tackling it a few times but i am definitely the saver and he’s the spender so it works for us. I use a great excel spreadsheet which i have created a comprehensive budget sheet in. When i was being a little pedantic, we would use an iphone app to log all our expenses to get an idea of how much we were spending each month but seriously who has time to do that!My kiddies are both under two so not too expensive just yet…private schooling is definitely going to sneak in the saving budget soon so we are somewhat prepared.
Yes, absolutely! We itemise every expenditure, gas, electricity, mortgage, kids stuff, groceries etc and if there’s any left over then thats a bonus!! I shop to the best of my ability and buy from Aldi, local fruit and veg shop, op shops which I find really helps too.
Wow, reading all these comments makes me realise that we women are really resourceful aren’t we? A good workable budget will free you up, good luck Corrie!
As a single mum & Uni student with a part time job, budgeting is essential. I do have times where I’m not as strict with it. But one thing that I do without fail each payday is to pay a small amount on each bill (gas, electricity, phone etc). Most of the time when the bills come in they are in credit, or only have a small amount owing. I used to go a little crazy with buying kids clothes (how fun is that?!?). But they ended up with so much that they hardly wore and with 1 boy and 1 girl, there are no hand-me-downs possible. So now at the start of each season I make a list of clothes that they both NEED and try to stick to it. Of course I still buy a few extra things for them, occasionally. I’ve had a few unexpected expenses this year which have made saving difficult. So I need to build my “rainy day fund” up again – probably not likely until after Christmas! I’m all for budgeting no matter what your income. It helps to get the most out of your money. There’s nothing wrong with spoiling yourself every now & then though.
I have a husband that is like retro daddy. I am a stay at home mom and get to stay home with my daughter. He works long hours at a minimum wage job so yes I definitely have a budget. My husband spends very little on himself and has had the same clothes for years and if he does buy some they are on clearance and with him being a size 2xl that does not happen very often. We get my daughter’s clothing either given to us for Christmas and her Birthday, and the clothing we do buy her is usually from second hand shops or garage sales. I get all of my clothes on clearance. For food we make a lot of things from scratch and use meat very sparingly and use it out of the freezer. We do let my husband get five two liters of mountain dew a week though because he is addicted to the stuff. But to answer your question yes we do budget and we budget everything.
I forgot the rent part that a lot of people are talking about it is always around the same amount and we just keep that check to pay for the rent seperate and we pay for the other bills by taking that money out of that check out first before we buy anything else, as he is payed twice a month. We also hang on to our savings very tightly in the bank because we are saving to buy a house. I hope my responses gave you some insight.
Well I’m the pedantic accountant in the household, when Darling Husband asks “how much have we got in savings?” that is a sign for me to ask, “what is it that you are buying?”. When we were paying 17% interest on our mortgage (in the early 90s), that taught us to budget and stick to it. We did however have a bit of a silly time when interest rates went down, I finished my degree and got a proper job that paid proper money and suddenly we could buy nice things. We had a period where we were less disciplined you could say. Then the school fees kicked in and we still wanted our lovely holidays so we had to get back on the budget wagon. I keep a spreadsheet that tracks all our expenditure so we can see where the money goes, in our house it is mostly groceries. I only have two teenagers, but man, can they eat! I do try to shop sensibly as well, for instance Woolworths has currently got 30% off wine, so I have stocked up on Christmas wine already. Although I didn’t spend any less than normal, I just got posher wine for my money
Hi Corrie, ever since we made the decision that my husband would be a stay at home dad and I would work full time to our 4 year old girl, it’s take a while to ‘find our groove’ re finances as I am the saver and he is more the spender. I made a decision to chat to mybudget (not sure if you’ve heard of them) but it’s the best decision I ever made. They make the budget, give you a weekly allowance and I basically treat them as my personal accountant where they look after my bills. It’s alot for me to be on top of when I am also trying to be a mum so if you really want to be stress free I highly recommend them. I’m a qualified accountant but don’t work in the trade and I still find relief in having someone else do the work for me.. reading all the comments gives me peace of mind that it’s not only our situation that is challenging…
No, we don’t have any budget. We’ve tried to establish some rules many times, but it usually works just a few days after. Even though I studied Economics, I’m not able to care about our family budget. Usually, I feel so guilty after shopping, that I don’t wanna know how much I spent and if I can allow it. The only thing that saves us is that we cannot complain about our salaries. But of course, we know that it’s necessary to change our habits. We are worried that we can give really bad example to our little ones…