Saturday, February 26, 2011

Money Making March

Money Making March
3M Challenge

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Feburary was a tough month budget wise for me. I have phases with my budget. For a while I will be totally on top of things and really do great. Then we hit a slump where it seems like we are just unable to keep our budget in the front of our mind. Are we the only ones? Please tell we aren't alone.... anybody else out there wishing their budget was closer to what it is on your monthly outline?

Well coming in March I am doing something drastic with my budget. Not so much drastic, more challenging really. I am not changing anything on my outline. I am not switching over to an envelope system (quite yet) I am simply going to use cash only for my miscellaneous category. That is the one category that I have the most trouble with (big surprise!). The other thing I am going to do is have a calender with a spending schedule on it. I want to have it outlined when I will do what shopping for the month. Along with this schedule there will be mandatory 'no spend' days. That means on those days, unless it is a medical emergency needing medication or something major like that or my husband needing gas for his vehicle to get to and from work, no money will be spent.
This is my blank slate (sorry it's a little grainy). On March 1st I will post my filled out calender. Then throughout March I will post updates to how I am doing. I will let you know if I think these few changes are making a difference. My goal is to do a better job of spending the money God is blessing my family with. I fail over and over again to do a good job with our money and I desperately need to do better. These few changes should change our budget by $300 in the positive direction of done correctly. If I can do this for 3 months I will have positively increased our bank account by $900.00! WOW! Then, if I can do it for 6 months you're talking $1800.00! This is a big deal my friends! But let's not put the cart before the horse though.

Do you need to buckle down and get better grip on your money? Don't be afraid to join me! Perhaps just adopt the mandatory 'no spend' days and scheduled shopping trips. Make Money Making March work for you! Grab a calender and fill it out! Don't want to fill out a calender, then just post about how you plan to save money in March. I'm not picky, I simply want to see what ideas you have about getting a better handle on your budget. Post about it on your blog and give your readers updates on your progress! Lets encourage each other this March! What do you have to loose? Each Friday I will have a Money Making March post with a link tool. If at any point during this challenge you want to join in on the fun, please do!

2 comments:

Emi Brade said...

You read my mind, We have been scraping by and I was just thinking how I need to create and STICK to a realistic budget. How did you get so good at this? is there ant books or websites you recommend for novice budget-ers like me. I'll def be trying your "Money Making March"
Give the family lost of love from your crazy high school buddy!

Rachel said...

It's that miscellaneous category that gets me too!

I find that I'm safer if I simply do not go into town unless I need to. Grocery shopping needs to be done on an infrequent as possible basis to avoid additional collateral purchases... and Target must be avoided at all costs, LOL :)

Great idea initiating No Spend days!