Budgeting Tips 101

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What is a budgeting mindset like? Do you want to have better control over your finances? Have you been thinking about improving what happens to your money?

Ok, I keep saying I should write more about this…. and so here it goes. What do you wish were different about your finances? Do you feel like you’re in control, or are you scrambling to keep up? Of course everyone wishes they had more money. But usually, that means we wish we had more money because we would turn around and spend it on something we want— whether that’s a small thing or a large thing.

It burdens me when I see so many people making bad budgeting decisions. For some of us, bad budgeting decisions are a result of wanting too much, or of wanting the wrong things. For some of us, bad money decisions are a result of not knowing how to make the right decisions. Maybe we were never taught, or maybe we never even knew there was a different way to do things.

I’d like to share some tips about budgeting, and this is the first in a series. So if you have questions, please put them in the comments and I will answer them in upcoming posts! You’ve heard me say before, that we wouldn’t be able to do what we do with our home improvement projects, if we hadn’t made good decisions up to this point.

Let me start with some basic things that I learned as a child, and that I’m trying to teach my children. These are things that carried over into my adult life, and that I hope carries over into the adult lives of my children…. These are things that will impact your basic mindset about money– which will lead to your mindset about budgeting.

Budgeting Tips #1: Be a good manager of what you already have.

We try to teach our kids to take good care of their belongings. If they don’t take care of what they have, why should we give them something else? We know they will destroy or be careless with it, wasting what was given to them.
This applies to you whether you have a lot, or not much, of worldly goods. If you don’t take care of your off brand kitchen mixer, why would you take care of a Kitchen Aid?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an adult leave something out in the rain, or outdoors where the dew will ruin it. (Like a rake or a hot dog fork for roasting hot dogs over a campfire, or grill utensils.) Sure, it may not ruin it if it is left out one time, but usually when things are left outside they are left for many days, and that will indeed ruin it, causing you to have to buy a new one.

Budgeting Tips #2: Don’t be wasteful.

This is in the same category as being a good manager. This can include turning off lights when you leave a room to not waste electricity, or turning off running water. Pennies are going down the drain, and those pennies add up after awhile. And please– don’t waste food! Don’t leave food on your plate and throw it away! Always save leftovers and use them later. If you are not in the habit of using your leftovers, you are going to be amazed at how much grocery money you can save this way. Did you eat out and can’t finish your meal? Don’t be ashamed to ask for a container to take your food home.

Budgeting Tips #3: Wear off brand clothes.

This is another thing that I’ve talked about before. Be humble. Be willing to wear second hand clothes. Yes, we can get better quality and clothes last longer when they are name brand. But if you are going in to debt, or living paycheck to paycheck, then it is not the time to be buying name brand clothes. Wait until your finances are more stable.

Do you want your kids to look nice? Sure! So do I! But I went to yard sales and thrift stores before buying clothes (including coats and shoes) brand new. Often, it was at yard sales that I found the brand name clothes that I couldn’t afford brand new! haha! And that was better than buying new clothes at Walmart or Target.

As my kids have gotten older and have their own money, they prefer to buy nicer clothes and shoes– but that’s another thing— I don’t want to buy brand name shoes and clothes when my kids are just going to grow out of them in a few months anyway!

Budgeting Tips #4: Don’t borrow money.

Don’t buy something if you need to borrow money to get it. This is something I learned when I was young. Never ever did I borrow five bucks from anybody to pay it back later. The one exception was if maybe I had the money at home, but hadn’t brough it with me to the store. The money was mine– just not with me at the moment. This was such a good habit, such a good mindset that I’m so glad it was taught to me.
Later on when I was single with jobs that didn’t pay a lot of money– I still did not borrow any money. I rented a cheap apartment, and I drove old cars. When it was time to buy a different car– I paid cash that I had saved. When you don’t have a lot of money in the first place– who can afford to pay interest on borrowed money?!

• If you are tempted to buy something like a car with a loan— make sure you add up the full cost of paying the loan back. You might think you are buying a $10,000 car, but you will see that by the time you’ve paid the interest— it’s actually a $14,000 car, and not as good of a deal as you thought.
• If you think that you need a loan to “build your credit” well guess what— you don’t need credit if you have cash! Did you ever think of that?! (And if you really do want to build your credit– simply pay back your credit card in full every month. Building credit is kind of a code for “can they be faithful in paying their bills regularly.”)
• If for some reason you absolutely must buy something like a car with borrowed money– then make it your goal to pay off that loan as early as you can. Don’t take the full amount of time to pay it off. Pay it off early, and save yourself a bunch of interest money!

Budgeting Tips #5: Keep your wants low.

You might wonder how did I pay cash for a car if I didn’t make a lot of money. I’ll tell you exactly how. I kept my wants low. I didn’t want to do expensive activities. I took bike rides, and I didn’t eat out very much. When I did things with friends– we did free things like watch a movie at home together or bake cookies.

Well– what do you think? Do you like these tips? Were they helpful? In case you wondered if I really know what I’m talking about– well recently my credit score was checked. I just got a letter in the mail letting me know that my credit score is 848. And the highest it goes is 850! So…… not bad, right?!

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