Saving Money Mondays

Good evening blog land!

I know it is practically the end of Monday but I have been thinking about doing some themed days so that I put myself on a little schedule. That way you know what I am going to be talking about on certain days.

One of the things that I am most passionate about is saving money on day to day things so that I can splurge on craft things. So I have worked hard on learning how to stretch my dollar.

On of the greatest hobbies that I have ever picked up is couponing, but that is for another post. Right now I want to talk about getting a hold on your spending.

I don't claim to be perfect at this. I have a tendency to blame the small budget on which we live for my lack of ability to stay in a budget, but deep down, I know I could be better.

One of the first things that my husband and I decided on a few years ago is to have me change my spending to cash only. It seemed that I had a tendency to spend a lot when I had a card and knew that there was money in the bank. I was always going on shopping runs, whenever the urge hit me.

It was hard to save any money that way. We were truly living paycheck to paycheck. So, I decided to relinquish my debit card and go to cash only. It helps immensely.

I can't buy it if I don't have the money for it. Also, it helps in setting up a budget. Every paycheck we take a trip down to the bank and I take out the cash that I need in each area of the budget for the two weeks until we get paid again.

Each area of the budget gets put into an envelope and labeled. Then I spend the money from each envelope. The nice thing about doing it this way is if I decided that I don't need to purchase anything those two weeks in a certain category then I can save the money for later or I can use that money on craft supplies. My husband is OK with that because it is money that has been set aside and we have budgeted for it.

So if you are struggling on keeping money in the bank, really consider the cash system. I am here to tell you, IT WORKS!

I hope that you can find inspiration in Saving Money Mondays and I hope that you can help inspire me to be more financially fit as well!

See you next Monday!