Welcome – and thank you for joining me on this 60 Day Budgeting Challenge!
My goal is to provide you with the tools, resources, and accountability you need to create a workable budget and then stick to it. I hope you’ll join my 60 Day Budgeting Challenge Facebook group for community, budgeting ideas, and inspiration on your financial journey.
I’m not a budgeting expert. I’m not debt-free (YET!). I’m not a penny-pincher (usually), and I’m definitely not perfect with my money. But we started budgeting years ago, and you know what?
We are in control of our money – it’s not in control of us!
Also? My husband and I are way less likely to fight about money when we have a budget, we don’t feel surprised by “unexpected” expenses like car repairs or a doctor visit, and Christmas doesn’t leave us financially drained.
So let’s jump right in and get started!
The most important part of creating a budget, in my experience, is understanding how much money you *really* have, and how much you’re *really* spending. To do this, you need to go through your finances with a fine-tooth comb.
Sound scary and daunting? It can be. But it’s so important.
Here is your “homework” this week:
Figure out how much money you spent over the last 30 days. And then, break those expenses into categories.
Print out this Spending Report to help you categorize your expenses (you may need to print out several, depending on how you want to break down your spending categories!).
Then, print out your bank statements, your credit card statements, your PayPal statement…all of it.
Each box on the spending report is for a different category. For example: food, clothing, medical, insurance, mortgage, car, etc.
Every expense for the last 30 days needs to be placed in a category. Every. Single. One. You’ll soon start to see spending patterns and get an idea for how you will structure your budget categories, which we’ll start next week.
Totally overwhelmed by this? That’s okay – I understand! You can reply to this email with questions (although I sometimes a take a day or two to answer emails, I definitely will), OR ask in the Facebook group.
You don’t need any special tools or to spend any money at all to take this challenge and take control of your money. However, if you want a Spend Well Budgeting System, which comes with the cash envelope planner you see her as well as a digital spreadsheet and several downloads, I have a coupon code for you that you can only get through this challenge. This will definitely make budgeting a little bit more fun, at least! 😉
Take 15% off the Spend Well Budgeting System with coupon code 60DAYBUDGET
Print out your Spending Report here.
Join the Facebook group here.
Here by accident? Hi! You’ve stumbled upon my 60 Day Budgeting Challenge. You can learn more here.
