The Best Life – The Financial Edition
This post could have gone in many different directions. The direction I was MOST hoping for was the one where we won the lottery on Friday night and then had to figure out how to spend all of our money.
*spoiler alert – that’s not how things ended up happening. I know. I was just as shocked as you are.
Admittedly, the lottery win wasn’t a super likely scenario, but guess what you guys, a very likely scenario was that Husbandio and I sit down to talk about our finances, and then lots of crying and a few raised voices ensue. The raised voices is a bit of a stretch because that’s not how we roll, but I’m a girl and I’m basically made of hormones so crying is never totally off the table.
This isn’t far off, but we’re not quite there yet!
(photo from funny-pictures-blog.com)
*spoiler alert – that’s not how things ended up happening, either!
Mark your calendar, friends, Husbandio and I sat down and had a super grown up talk about finances, complete with many lists and lots of calculating, and not only were there no tears, but there was much laughter. Now, the laughter was more of a “throw your hands in the air and shake your head because holy shit how did this happen but oh well we have to deal with it” hahahaha which isn’t ideal, but at least we finished the conversation just as (or maybe even MORE) in love as we started it. THAT’S A BIG DEAL!
So now we get down to brass tacks. I have been put in charge of stuff. All the stuff. Husbandio hands over his cheque, and I combine it with my cheque, and then I make sure that everyone is happy at the end. This will most likely be harder than I’m making it sound, but as it stands I’m kind of excited. We believe that it’s a smart move on our part to have one person playing God with the money. Someone needs to see the whole picture. Each of us having small windows into the picture wasn’t doing anyone any favours.
Now I need to find new and exciting ways to stretch a dollar. We weren’t really sure about a grocery budget, so we threw a number out there and we’re putting it into an envelope and that’s it. So I ask you all, what is your monthly grocery budget? Are we crazy to think that $300 should feed us? In addition to the $300, we also have our biweekly fruit/veggie box delivery which covers all of our produce needs. We can do this, right? RIGHT?
What else do you do to stay on track? How do you keep your household in the black? Do I have any financial geniuses in my readership that can make money appear?
Oh my god, I’d think that $300 is plenty for the month! Do you still get to go out to eat in addition? My wife has inquired about having us do this cash envelope thing, but I don’t see how it would work, honestly. Not for us at least. We do need to sit down and have that grown up talk though. Lol.
We don’t eat out, but I figured that with all of our produce covered, it’s just meat, milk, eggs, and baking supplies that make up the $300 and that should be plenty, right? But then a girlfriend at work with a few more kids goes through $270 a week and that made me nervous!
I was always reluctant with the envelope system, too. I’m still not sold, but we’re only using the envelopes for groceries and Walmart trips because it’s all too easy to lose track of spending in those categories. I dunno. I’m still hoping for the lottery.
well done!! I hope you don’t include wine in that grocery budget.. Be flexible with the grocery budget, it’s going to change over time. As I told you before (I think), I LOVE LOVE LOVE YNAB (youneedabudget) for tracking spending a working a budget, rather than look at your bank account you look at what you have to spend in that category. It’s brilliant but less so when you set it up and ignore it (don’t be like me). If you have any interest at all in it let me know, I have a coupon code for it.
I need to be MUCH better at not spending, eating at home, buying items on sale etc. oh and coupons..
Our booze budget is actually it’s own thing. We’re nothing if not realistic. Ha.
I’m going to try good old pen and paper for the first couple of months and see how I do. I’m all nervous/excited about it. Because no one is lamer than me. Not in the whole Universe.
No worries, i always like to mention it (like a bajilion times) cause it’s how much I love it. If you change your mind you know where I am.
I’ll look at it. How much is it? Is it a subscription thing or just a one time purchase?
Well $300 for 4 is pretty tight. But, I have faith in you. And if you incorporate more grains like rice and beans and stuff like that that are cheap and still filling I think you can do it! You’re a rock star and if there is a goal to achieve from doing this I KNOW you can make it happen. Coupons and price matching are your best friends ;)
Ugh. I was SO HOPING that people would be all, “WHAAAAAAT??? $300 is ludicrous! You only need like $75 a month!”
hahahaha….see? Sometimes I’m willfully delusional.
lmao you kill me!