Budget

I haven't written about this here yet, but then I was inspired by Leah.

So we also have put ourselves on a budget. As described in Leah's post - I also have the same problem when I go shopping for one thing, I come home with many more. I'd go to Old Navy to get Quinn some socks, because they have the best socks for little boys, I swear. And I'd come home with at least 2 shirts and a pair of pants for me, some outfits for Quinn, and some shirts for Mike. Of course none of us need any of these items, but they were ON SALE. The same thing happens at any store I walk into. And unlike Leah, who uses a debit card, we put would put everything on our credit card in hopes of getting ourselves more Disney Dollars. And it's so easy to just hand over that card and not pay attention to the total. And it's so easy to drive through McDonald's for lunch...10bucks here and there didn't really matter. And it's not as though we're in debt. We pay the credit card off every month - we've only got our mortgage, car, home equity, and school loans to worry about. =) No, we're not in debt at all - at least not the debt that Oprah talks about. But either way...I started to notice we were using our savings for more than we normally do and it had started shrinking instead of growing. So, we put ourselves on budgets. Cash budgets. It's been about 2 months and it's still strange having cash in my wallet. I used to never use cash for anything.
Our rules:
You must use cash for anything you don't really need: clothes, eating out, hair cuts, brow waxings, movies, gifts, etc. We each get $120 a month. Quinn gets $60 a month, because I told Mike if he doesn't have a budget I will continue my shopping habits and Quinn will be the best dressed 2 year old ever, because I was able to CHARGE IT. So, I get $60 a month to spend on Quinn and/or gifts. It's worked out nicely for 2 months. I've even got some cash in both my envelope and Quinn's to carry over to September. I'd like to buy him a new ride on toy. All of his are from garage sales and just don't work that well. For myself, I'm planning a hair cut and brow wax...which will take most of my budget because I'm so darn spoiled. I don't spend a lot of money on many things...but my hair cuts are just something I have to do. Last month I was able to buy some new clothes for work and did pretty well shopping at nice stores (Fourth and Towne, Ann Taylor) and finding some great deals. I also found myself being much more picky about what I would buy. I tried on a pair of pants, on sale from $100 to $15. They fit okay. The bottoms were a little too flaired for me. A little too loose in the waist. Too low on the waist. In the past I would have just got them because they were on sale and fit okay. But not now while on this new budget. I did not need another pair of pants in my closet that didn't fit right.
So anyway...I find our budget is working nicely. Our savings is growing again. We're not swipping our cards aimlessly. And we may even be able to up the budget for Christmas gifts.