NOW all I can think about is money money money money money money.
Our budget, money in, money out, ways to save, trying not to shop....which is so HARD. That is our biggest issue, when we want something we just go and buy it. When we want to eat out we do. The two of us are a BAD combo because we don't keep each other in check.
We need more in savings...and I want to organize our spending and try to spend like we will when the baby is here and put the "baby" money over the next 5 months in savings for when the baby is actually here.
Another issue is that my husband works on comission. He has a nice base salary but we count on a certain amount of comission each month. It's hard to work on a budget when you don't know exactly how much money your working with.
Ugh. The good thing is...we BOTH have jobs. I know we are lucky to have this in our economy.
My question for you is...do any of you have a reccomendation for a good book on finances?
7 comments:
I don't have a book for you, but live with me for a few days and I'll teach you not to buy stuff right away without even thinking about it. Think of it like Boot Camp or something :-)
Wait...did I write this post?
Ugh, money is all I can think about too! We keep saying we have to cut back, we have to cut back...but we both have a way of making every purchase "a necessity."
I can't wait to see if anyone has any good book recommendations.
Samantha - what is your trick to not impulsively making purchases?
Kate: my trick is that we're beyond broke, so that makes it easy. Pay the rent and have a place to live for another month, or eat out four times a week for a month? Easy :-)
Suggestion: figure out roughly how much you'll be paying per month for daycare (probably around $1000 for full-time) and add another $200 on to that per month and put that in savings. Then you'll see what it's like. Not to mention that we probably spent around $400 right when he was born on stuff we needed but didn't get at the shower. So there's that too. And don't forget my Target gift card trick.
I don't think you can avoid the money talk anywhere these days. We too have been having the 'money talk' with baby only 9 weeks away. I have tried in the past to set up a spreedsheet of our income vs. bills, it didn't work. With the era of debit cards we don't balance a checkbook anymore so there is that issue as well.
When I do end up going shopping I tend to make unnecessary purchases if I don't make a list ahead of time. Otherwise I find myself weaving in and out of every aisle!
I have been DYING to recommend this book to someone, because I am a leeetle bit obsessed with it right now: Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. Read it. It's an easy read, and it will change how your view money and spending. Then, let me know what you think!
Hey Kristin--you get that book, read it, then lend it to me, okay?
:-)
I have been obsessing over money for the past week - I want to figure out a way to go down to part time. It is not possible right now and I want to figure out a way to make it possible. I thought I'd stop back in here to see if there were any book suggestions and jackpot! I'm all over this.
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