Works For Us Wednesday: The 52 Week Money Challenge

I have previously shared with you the envelope budget that I have been using and LOVE and the $5.00 savings plan with I also LOVE-both of which are so simple and so easy to use and they both are saving me money.  Today I want to share another simple money saving idea that we are starting in our house: the 52 week money challenge.  I just read about this and knew that this was something that we could totally do in our house.  Here is the breakdown:

So for 1 year you put away money once a week in increasing increments or decreasing (I read of some people that are starting with the large amount and working down-which is what I am doing) and at the end of the year you will have nearly $1,400.00 saved up.  The thing I love about it is that the most you will have to come up with is $52.00 in one lump sum.  My husband and I discussed it and both decided to start it now (yep in May) because school is just about out and if we start it now by the same time next year (when school is just about out and we are planning for the summer) we will have a nice little vacation budget saved up that we can use or save for one more year and double.  I love savings ideas like this; anyone can do this.  So I decided to share it now because many of you are also nearing the end of a school year and getting ready for summer and who doesn't need a little vacation fund, or renovation fund or adult only getaway fund.  I printed out the breakdown and taped it right next to our computer where we do our budgeting.  We are doing it online by transferring money from our checking account to our savings account each time rather than putting cash in a jar because we don't always have cash on hand. This couldn't get any easier.  I mean you aren't going to be able to retire on it-though if you did it year after year you could have a nice savings fund tucked away.  Man I love when I find stuff like this-just had to share.

Works for us Wednesday: Envelope Budget

I have been trying to find a budget that was workable for me for a really long time.  I needed something that I could record on immediately after a purchase rather than trying to remember to add it on a computer or something else later.  I needed something that would allow me to record any type of purchase (cash, credit card or check).  I needed something that was simple without a lot of categories.  I found this video via Pinterest and it has been the most wonderful budget system for me.  It is as simple as you can get.  It works for me because we run our house very similar to the way she runs hers.  My husband pays the bills and I have money to buy the stuff that our family needs (groceries, household supplies, clothes, diapers, formula etc).  I am sure you could still make it work even if you don't have a set up quite like this.  What I love about this is that I carry it in my wallet with me everywhere and so any time I make a purchase I am reminded to record it and I am also reminded that I am working within a budget and therefore I have more accountability.  I can see how much I have spent each week and I can see how much I have left to spend and for some reason that envelope makes me that much more responsible.  I absolutely love this idea.  I pay for most everything with my debit/credit card or a check.  I rarely have cash on hand but when I do I consider it "free" money and don't include it in my budget (I usually get cash when I sell an odd or end at a yard sale or on-line).  And since I have been doing it I have saved an average of 100.00 per month (and usually it is more).  I start with 600.00 a month for all the things I need to buy for our family and usually only spend $450.00-$500.00 within that month because I make better choices, keep records and make myself be accountable all on a plain old white envelope.  I am not saying this is perfect for everyone (if you already have a good working budget then I wouldn't suggest worry about this) but if you are looking for something very simplistic then this would be worth checking out.  It definitely works for me.

Works For us Wednesday: Preschool

I, like a lot of other moms out there, want to give my children as much education as possible before they actually start kindergarten.  I am amazed at how many preschool ideas there are on the web and wish I had time to do every single one of them.  The truth is that I don't have time to do even a portion of them and I feel like I don't really even have the time to do anything overly formal as far as preschool goes at home with my girls.  I have been doing some form of preschool with Small Fry since she was 2 but as she gets older and involved in more things and I have more children it seems to get harder and harder.  I am not a home school mom...that is for sure, but I have finally found a fairly simple solution that works for us to get some preschool in each day.  It started when I grabbed a few flash cards to review with the girls one day while we ate breakfast.  They loved reviewing their letters in a very informal setting and asked if we could do it again at lunch time.  I was surprised but said sure.  And for the last 2 months that is what we have done everyday during breakfast and lunch 5 days a week-preschool.  Sometimes I think they will get tired of it and don't get anything out but as I sit down with the girls they say, "mom what about preschool."  We do flash cards, I ask them to spell things, we review their address and phone numbers, we review the days of the week and the months of the year, we count by tens and count things on flash cards.  We sometimes do rhyming words or play I spy.  Sometimes I ask one to quiz the other.  Sometimes after we eat we sit a little longer so I can have them write something or do some fine motor activities.  We get to eat our food, we bond because we are interacting the whole time and they are learning and having fun doing it.  It totally works for us.  It is one of the greatest ideas I feel that I have ever had.  I look forward to eating meals with my girls because of how much they love that preschool time.