Hi Everyone! Today I will be sharing with you a system I’ve been wanting to try but just can’t! I loved the fact of setting out some money every month and then spending only what is in that envelope for each specific category. If you are not familiar with this system check out Dave Ramsey’s Site here! This site here from thrifty little moms explained it all very easily for me too!
So I totally love the system, but with two kids I really cannot run into the bank to get cash every week, I do not want to have to take the kids out to pay for gas, and I really do not feel safe carrying around th
at much money on me! So those are my main reasons why I cannot do the cash envelope system.
So in this post I will share with you my free printable budget booklet and how I plan on using it to track my expenses. I also wanted to share with you this very simple budget trick from funcheaporfree.com, her system doesn’t use cash neither but only includes 2 categories! Perfect for a newbie like myself! Check her video out too to see more!
So the first thing I did was set up my budgets. Our biggest categories are:
- Groceries
- Household
- Kids -diapers, wipes, toys
- Dining Out -restuarants, fast food
- Auto -Gas, Insurance, Registration, Repairs
- Bills
- Business
- Fun
- Saving
So after figuring that out I printed out my booklet and wrote down each category for each page along with the budgeted amount for each category. I’m not sure if that would be enough room to write for a whole month on the smaller midori sizes so I have it for weekly but if you don’t use it weekly you can simply use washi tape to cover it up! After using this system for a few days I think I may not need to budget weekly and will probably switch my budget amounts for the whole month or for two weeks by the paycheck schedule instead. I’ve included several pages in the booklet in case you have more catetgories than I do! But if you only have two categories you can also just keep using it for the next week, two weeks or month!
My printable includes a space to write down your expenses and also track how much you have left in your budget! Once you’ve reached 0, you cannot spend anymore for that week or month for that category. So as you can see, it is like the cash system except you really have to have a little more self control since you’re still swiping your card. That remaining amount cannot go negative for me, that’s your goal and your budget. Hopefully that’s enough to help you to budget your money and start paying off debt or saving up for a big vacation! I sure do hope I can budget like a pro!
Let me know what you think in the comments below and you can download the budget booklets in the sizes below:
Thank you so much for making these and giving them away for free! This will be my third month using them and they have really helped me get my spending under control! It’s amazing how much of a difference it’s made! The planner pages are small enough to fit inside of my big mom wallet (lol), so I’m able to update my budget right after I buy something. Thanks again!
I’m so glad it’s working for you! Thanks for sharing your experience I love hearing them! ❤️