Since beginning Financial Peace University, Josh has become much more involved in our finances.  Up to this point in our marriage, I’ve done everything when it comes to our finances.  Some people think it is the “man’s job” to take care of the finances, but I’m the more organized person in this equation, on top of being at home and enjoying keeping track of our budget, so I’ve always done it.  With that ‘responsibility’ also came a little freedom due to a lack of accountability.  If I wanted to stop at Starbucks three times in one week **GASP**, I could.  If I didn’t plan for dinner and needed to drive thru somewhere to pick up dinner on the way to church, I could!  Now…not so much.  Josh is checking our online banking almost daily.  He likes to plug it all into our budget and make sure things are balancing and we’re sticking to our “Cash Flow Plan”, as Dave Ramsey calls it.  🙂  This has surprisingly been a nice change for me.  I know that I cannot drive thru Starbucks or Chick-fil-A without getting a phone call, “Honey, did you guys eat out this morning?  Was that in the budget??”  Without a doubt, we are going to save a lot of money now that every dollar we earn has a name and a place before our month even begins.  Dave Ramsey recommends the zero-based budget.  It’s genius really.  Basically, you create your budget based on your income, your bills, needs, savings, investments, etc, etc, and your total at the end of your budget should be zero.  That means, if your normal budget, after bills and everything, leaves you with $327, you need to find or create a place for all $327.  Even if it just means you create a section called “Blow Money”, which is what Ramsey calls your spending money.

It is important that you stay accountable for every penny you make.

I like it!

I know exactly how much cash I can put in my “grocery” envelope, and now it will be a fun challenge to stay under budget this month.  If we have money left over in the “grocery” envelope at the end of the month, we can either go out to eat or roll it over into next month’s groceries.

I’ll write more on this later.  I need to get a certain potty-training-two-year-old up from his nap and PRAY that those freshly washed sheets are still dry!

~audrey