Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Thursday, September 01, 2011

I've Cooled Down .. a bit

Mrs. Mac Cooling Off .. in a little bit of powder ;)
The weather turned a nice temp .. we got some rain .. I took a few days off from my break-neck pace .. and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (sorta .. tomatoes are ripening up;).  My computer is REALLY acting up now and not allowing me to transfer any pictures from the camera .. says I'm not the administrator .. which is a lie ;(  but I can't talk any sense into the hard drive/memory.  About ready to get a new one .. (again).

Today was budget day.  That means I work out a budget for the whole month and spend on paper all the money at one time .. ending with zero money.  I have so many categories and cash envelopes .. it's hard to mess up or omit something.  Doing this helps to have the money already set aside in the bank when the bills arrive .. say for example life or car insurance.  By setting aside 1/6th of a semi-annual payment each month..  I can pay for it in full and save a little by not having to make installments.   I LOVE/LIKE budgeting because it really makes a person think twice before buying something if it's not allocated ... makes saying NO much easier :)

We just bought our quarter of beef for the year .. this was budgeted and made it less painful to fork over a large chunk of money since we had been saving for a long time.  In this economy, living without a budget would be scary.  If I could go back in time .. I'd do a better job of teaching my kids how to budget; not all of them got the benefit of seeing and living through a written spending plan.

Well .. if I need to buy a new laptop .. or at minimum get this one fixed, I'd better start setting aside some funds. 


3 comments:

Pat said...

I do the budgeting the first of each month too, we only get one check a month, and I prefer it this way. I've even moved all of the due dates of the bills to the first week of the month, that way I can take care of it in one swoop and know everything is covered, and what's left is easier to handle.
My laptop battery charger, which came with the computer is not recognized any more either. What's up with that?

Margie said...

lol and you're always telling me to slow down!

I hate living on a budget, but I do! once in awhile though I rebel and don't follow as closely as I should... and I'm always sorry! good thing I always have food in the pantry for such months!

The Professor's Wife said...

I just did our budget yesterday - it can be hard to be disciplined about not spending money, but when we really need something, the money is always there or at least can be planned for quickly. I will never go back either