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Spend wisely

Fine-tuning your budget to make it work for you

I’ve been using YNAB for years now (and J does too), and what’s made a HUGE difference for me was money in categories. Instead of seeing $3,000 in my bank account, I see that I have $300 allocated for groceries and don’t overdo it on the fancy cheeses every time I go to the store.

This works well with most categories – groceries, household goods, gas, utilities. Typically I spend about the same amount per month in each of these categories.

For some categories like car insurance, I allocate money each month and pull the money out twice a year when the payments are due.

I have noticed an issue with other categories, though, and maybe you have, too.

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Financial education

5 Day challenge to get your kids started managing money

Want to get your kids started managing money? I’ve broken the process down over five days, and by the end of day 5, they should be well on their way!

Day 1 – Get started

Let’s get started. Grab two index cards and a pen. 

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Financial education

The simple way your teenager can manage their money

When I first started teaching J about money, we used cash and envelopes. After a few years, we switched to FamZoo’s prepaid cards and last year when he turned 13, we opened regular checking and savings accounts at our credit union.

J has also been using YNAB for two years now, but I wanted to give an update on the entire process and how easy it can be for your teenager to manage their money.

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Real-life money lessons

Jumping into the new year with a no-spend (no-stuff) challenge

I don’t know about you, but the past few months have been really hectic. We’ve been busy with work, school, activities and holidays.

Sometimes when you’re so frazzled, it seems like it will never end. But January is upon us — a chance to start fresh, scale back and go into the new year feeling more calm.

I’ve been circling around the idea of a no-spend month for a few weeks. A no-spend month is a month (or any amount of time) where you don’t spend any money outside of necessities. You still pay your rent or mortgage, car payments, debt payments, utilities, etc. but you cut out the discretionary spending.

When I first mentioned this to J, he was a little confused — a no-spend month where you actually DID spend money didn’t make a lot of sense. (Kids can be very literal.)

I explained that there’s almost no way to not spend ANY money for a month (aside of pre-paying everything I guess, which may be difficult to do), but that the sentiment was really to cut back on all the extra STUFF, which in my mind leads to more stress.

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Financial role models

Six money (and life) lessons I learned from my dad

Last year my dad passed away.

He was a great guy, an amazing dad and the reason I became so interested in personal finance. (One of my first posts was about important lessons I learned from my parents.)

In honor of him, I’d like to recount some of his philosophies on money and life and how he walked the walk every day.

Lesson 1 – Save some money

My dad was BIG on saving. One of my earliest memories was a coffee can in his roll-top desk where I’d deposit half dollars that his Uncle Walt would give me at church every Sunday.

In college, he had me open a Roth IRA (they had just come out!) and told me to put money in every month. Even if it wasn’t a lot, that was okay as long as I contributed regularly. In time, when I had more money, I could (and should) contribute more.

You don’t have to spend it all. You’re allowed to keep some of it.

My Dad
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