Our Budgeting System

A couple of friends have asked about our budgeting system and how it works, so I thought I'd write about it here!

This is, and has been, a work in progress. The biggest change we had to make was to stop using our credit card and our debit card for the everyday items. We decided to start using cash so that we could physically see where our money was going and how much we had left to spend. My brother Jason and his wife Erica had taken a course from Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace in which they paid off a crazy amount of debt in a short period of time and one of the things they used most regularly was the envelope system for their spending money. I asked for this for Christmas last year and am still using it now.

I already had a spreadsheet set up for paying our bills, which included tithe, insurance, and savings account, so I knew how much money we needed for those which always got paid first. It was always the left over money that seemed to disappear LONG before the next payday. So, I added that feature to our spreadsheet to show how much money was left after all the bills were paid.

Then, I broke down that money into several categories:
Groceries
Toiletries
House/Clothes (Projects, decorating, kid's clothes, seasonal items etc.)
Entertainment (Family fun nights and/or date nights with the kids)
Miscellaneous (dog, car repair & maintenance, special events or activities, etc.)
Sunday Food (fast food lunch after church on Sunday)
Gifts (Birthdays, Christmas, anniversary)
Play Money (Fun account for Mark and myself to spend on whatever we want)
Gas

Every two weeks when I go to put in our paychecks at the bank, I always get out the amount needed and put them into these envelopes. Any money that is left over at the end of the two weeks goes into a jar to be used for something special with the family.

At first, I did a percentage and whatever that amount was, that was how much was put into that envelope. I soon discovered that there were some areas that were more important than others, so I prioritized them and when the money was gone, that was it. Now I have a set amount that works for us for each of these areas. When we don't have enough money for that amount, I have a second amount that is used when we need to cut way back in order to save more or to make up for unexpected expenses (i.e. to get out of the hole).

The other thing that has worked well for me in particular is to TRY to only go shopping one day a week. Friday is the best day for me. Whatever we are in need of, I write it on the shopping list throughout the week. That way, if there is something that I think I just have to have, it gives me a few days to really think about that purchase and to see if I have something around the house I can use instead or not need at all. Nine times out of ten, I cross a lot of things off the list whereas before, I would just go and buy whatever I thought we needed, only to find out a week later that we really didn't *need* it, or we already had some.

That is it! Like I said, we are far from perfecting this system, but we know that it does work for us when we follow it and we are in much more control of our money. My goal now is to see if I can get to the place where there is more than just coins left in the envelopes after two weeks! Wouldn't that be nice?

What about you? What are some successes you have had with budgeting? What works for you?

Homemade Diaper Wipe Solution

Ever since getting into the whole cloth diapering thing, I have always wanted to try making my own diaper wipe solution. It seemed like such a simple thing to do and the logical next step after making the actual diapers. I had a big stack of cloth wipes that I made for Kaley when she was a baby, but I didn't really like the system that I tried back then. I pulled them out again this week determined to make it work, but easier this time. And, for those of you who know me best, I *hate* to have to go to the store to buy something that could easily be made at home.

There are a million and a half websites with ideas on how to make the solution, so this is not my original idea by any means. I got out my notes from the last time I tried this and ran across a website I had written down called Zany Zebra Designs. They had a whole page dedicated to cloth wipe solution recipes, and sure enough, 2 years later it can still be found here:
http://www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml

The basic idea of the recipe is to have
*oil
*soap
*Essential Oil and
*water

Aside from these basic ingredients, there are many different variations of this.

I choose to go with what I had in the house, so my recipe has olive oil, baby wash, Tea Tree oil and water.

Here is how I did it!

First, I got out my cloth wipes that I made out of the leftovers from the cloth diapers for Kaley. I made two kinds, the one on the left is just one piece of flannel cut into a rectangle to fit into a wipes container. I stitched around the perimeter of the flannel to keep it from unraveling in the wash. The one on the right is a bit thicker with about 5 pieces of flannel stitched together. Both worked great, but to do a lot of them to get started out, I would suggest the one of the left!

Here is all the equipment ready to go. An empty wipes container, glass bowl for mixing, 2 cups of water, cloth wipes, olive oil, baby wash, Tea tree oil, whisk and measuring spoons (not pictured).


I put the 2 cups of water in the bowl, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tbsp of baby wash, and 2 drops of Tea tree oil.
Then I whisked all of the ingredients together.

Then I filled half of the container with the cloth wipes and poured in enough solution to saturate the wipes.
Then, I filled the rest of the container up with more wipes and poured in more solution to cover those wipes. You may not use all of the solution. It is better to have them on the dryer side and add more if you need it, rather than having them too wet and having to wring them out before using them.

Then, just because I can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago, I put a piece of scotch tape on the bottom of the container and wrote the date that I made the solution on. From what I've read, this is good for about a week, so now I know when I have to redo it.

This was simple, simple, simple! It took less than 5 minutes to make and the best part of it, is that is was FREE-made with ingredients that I had at home. Love it!!!

Happy 5 months Chloe

ooops, looks like it has almost been a month since I have posted last...I guess that just goes to show that I am STILL getting used to having two. There just isn't that much extra time in my day. Oh well.

Exciting news! Chloe is 5 months today!!! Happy birthday our little sweetheart. She has really come alive this past month. She is such a happy and joyful little girl. Chloe smiles with her whole body just like Kaley did! She is laughing, grabbing at things with her hands, cooing, singing, and has pushed herself on her belly from her back, but it still working on pulling her arms out from underneath her.

This past month she went swimming for the first time and loved the water. She splashed and kicked and had a great time. That's all she wants to do in her bath now too- very cute! She enjoys reading books with big sister Kaley and mommy and loves to play with her rattles.

Happy 5 months baby doll! We love you lots.