Comments on: Sunday Night Meetings

By: Find Big Money in Your Budget | The Finer Things in Life

Find Big Money in Your Budget | The Finer Things in Life — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:00 +0000

[...] those ideas aren’t enough for you, Phoebe, Cara, and Erin have posted some helpful tips and tricks, [...]

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:22:41 +0000

this sounds like such a great idea and i think it would really help me and my husband out! we are such a team but we both feel so overly stressed all the time and like we dont what the heck is goin on around here! ive always heard using the cash method is best but i have never done it but thinking of giving it a shot!! thank you

By: April

April — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:11:45 +0000

We took the Financial Peace class (Dave Ramsey) in 2005. Paid off a car. Vowed to never again finance a vehicle. We cut up and closed all credit cards out. Ouch! That hurt!! We built up a savings of $13,000. We then bought a 2003 Honda Pilot with cash for $10,000 and started rebuilding our emergency fund. I use coupons. Shop thrift stores. etc. Someone said to me the other day, Yeah, that’s good and everything, but you should live and enjoy life a little! Well, we do. Our quality of life is so good because we aren’t worried about money. No, we aren’t taking fancy vacations, but we are a happy family that laughs together and eats dinners together. What truly matters?

Oh, thank you for the Sunday night meeting idea!! I want to start that!!

By: ShonW

ShonW — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:00:16 +0000

I love these ideas. Thank You so much ;>

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:47:12 +0000

Great advice. Since we started communicating weekly on our finances, we have been less stressed out and more in tuine with enjoying each other more.

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:44:10 +0000

My wife and I just started “Financial Peace University”, developed by Dave Ramsey. It has changed our lives. We deal in cash only. We made a budget. We work with the envelope system, which our grandparents used to do. We started with $1000 in an emergency fund and got rid of our credit cards. The cash we withdraw for the pay period is divided into envelopes, such as groceries, gas, dining out, etc. We leave them in a strong box at home. We only carry the gas money. This way, if we stop to eat out. We replenish the envelope when we get home. Once the envelope is empty, that’s it. We do not borrow from any other envelopes unless it is for gas or groceries.
Since starting, we are more relaxed and worry about money less. Last weekend, I had to unexpectantly replace 2 tires. At first I panicked, but then my wife reminded me of our emergency money. Problem solved. No credit card debt and no money shortage.
We only wish we did this sooner in our marriage. The bottom line is that this is all common sense stuff.
If you visit Dave Ramsey’s web site, check out the 7 baby steps. These alone will get you started on your way.

By: Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom

Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:57:49 +0000

@Chelle W.,

I pull out all the money I anticipate needing for the week. And yes, it is easy to whip out the plastic!

We have separate budgets for gifts and pull out $$ when we need it to cover gifts costs.

By: Allie Zirkle

Allie Zirkle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:05 +0000

@Annette, We moved to a cash based system about 3 months ago. I know my husband feels the same way you do- if I have it, I’ll spend it. That mentatlity goes away after almost 2 weeks (1 pay cycle for us) when there’s no money left in the wallet and there isn’t a card handy. He had to borrow lunch money from a buddy because of the predicament. Trust me, it hasn’t happened again. I find myself spending less because “what if a good deal pops up on Weds and I can’t stockpile because my cash is gone?” or “what if a girlfriend invites me to lunch and I have to brown bag it? I’ll keep the $10 in my wallet instead”.

We actually switched to 100% cash, sending payments via money order. It was a hilarious process (imagine handing $3,000 to a walmart cashier for the “fixed” expenses!!). It meant addressing envelopes, logging items in our cash register (converted check register), etc. It meant cashing a payroll check to get the cash. Have you tried that recently?! WOW! Is it tough! Apparently banks don’t want to part with their cash either… (now we are using bill pay, but we wanted to shock ourselves, taking ourselves out of our comfort zones!! Boy did it work!)

It took some time to settle in, but it jumped started our financial talks. I’ll be taking Erin’s advice to set up weekly meetings. We do biweekly, but I think a weekly meeting would enable better visability on the day to day cash purchases and help keep our eyes better pointed on our longer term goals…

Allie

By: shannon

shannon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:57:49 +0000

We do all cash also, and I love it. I like the idea of these weekly “meetings” and prayer and devotional time though… great idea!

By: jolyn

jolyn — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:06:44 +0000

This is what keeps a marriage going and what makes a good marriage great!

Do you even pay cash for gas? I totally see the psychological benefit of physically forking over the cash, but going IN to pay for gas? Which you wouldn’t be able to pay any less on anyway? At least, that’s how I see it…

I’m going to put this post on my next linky-linky post.:)