How We QUICKLY Built Our Baby Emergency Fund

When we sold our house our property tax wasn't showing paid at the assessors office yet (it was being processed) so we had to pay it AGAIN at closing for the deal to go through. We had to use almost all of our emergency fund to make that happen. We got it back as soon as the tax office showed an overpayment, but it took just over a month.

During that month I was on a mission to build our Baby Emergency Fund ($1000) as fast as I could without it affecting our budget. This is Step 1 if you follow Dave Ramsey's plan. I was able to get us almost all the way back up to $1000 before we got the money back. This is how we did it.

 SELL IT!!
Goodness did we have a ton of excess! So much so that I was able to sell stuff at a great deal for other folks but enough to be close to our Baby Emergency fund.
Be real with your needs. Do I LOVE drinking glasses, sure do, but did we need 5 different sets? NOPE. It wasn't fun and wasn't a 1 time process. The first go around I eliminated 1 set and made some $. A few weeks later, did the same thing and was even more real with our needs. We hadn't used all that we had so 2 more got sold!

Use Your Skills
Maybe you can sew, paint, watch some kids? Whatever it is, put yourself out there and create something you can make money from. It doesn't have to be a full time or long time gig, just enough to get to that baby goal.

Put it away RIGHT AWAY!
This was sometimes the hard part for us. Sell $100 rug, and it can be SO tempting to go DO something, or get something with that cash. Having a designated SAVINGS  spot for it before the bank and WRITING IT DOWN is really what helped us. That ongoing tally of cash was a good visual.

Other ways, not as quick as others but still efficient

• Set up a savings account, automatically have a % from each paycheck directed there. Out of site, out of mind. Even if it's only 2% that will add up 
• Cash in your change. Maybe it's only $20, it will still help
• Cash in your gift cards. I didn't know trading in my gift cards for cash was an option until recently.   

And because we were able to build it mostly back up before we got the refund, when we did get the refund we were able to put that directly to some debt!

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No Spend July!

It's been a good while since we, scratch that, I have done a NO SPEND month. I am the one that makes the day to day purchases around here and I am the one that tends to blow money on things that we don't really NEED. I am a sucker for cuteness, and clothes and coffee. I know I need a month to reign it in, July seems like the perfect month! It's before I have to get serious about school/fall clothes, before baby will be here and before Halloween stuff comes out (BIG weakness!)

I will absolutely need to plan beforehand, like NOW, or I will have some slip ups.

Things that are not making the OK LIST

~Coffee Drinks (or bought smoothies, or any of that stuff) This doesn't happen too often anymore

~Clothes for me (other than exceptions I have listed)

~Clothes for kids (minus exceptions)

~House Decor~ So hard with all the awesome shabby shows going on!

~ Eating out with kids

~Extras at the grocery store

And I have my list of exceptions
I keep it on my phone, no excuses not to use it.

Kids Backpacks, there is usually a good sale on them in July
A few things for me for the hospital
A pedicure, already planned
Cami's for the girl, if they are under $2 on clearance
Some baby outfits, once I figure out how much we have for him.
School Supplies, ONLY if they are on a GOOD sale.

How I plan to manage it all?

Make my own coffee at home,no brainer right?
Stay away from the stores I tend to spend at, like Target
Find stuff to do besides SHOP. That shouldn't be too hard!
Don't look in the big kids sizes at the resale shop, stick to the baby section if I go
Check the ads instead of making a trip to the store to see what is on sale.
Stop notifications and news feed from the facebook groups I usually get great stuff in
Go through baby stuff and make a REAL list about what this little guy will need his first couple months. Not going to buy ahead this time. 
I probably SHOULD stay off of Pinterest, there are always SO many yummy looking recipes. I don't want to be tempted to try a new one every few days and have to buy extra ingredients. Maybe I will just keep them for August!

What am I hoping to SAVE?
$30 on Coffee for sure
And at least another $200 on random stuff I won't be buying!
Will be saving on Gas, won't be going into town as much

Kind of excited to see how much we will have left at the end of the month!

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September Update

With the end of August we had a whole lot of changes!

Ryan got a job! He will be working close to where I work and is excited. But that changes our life a little bit, we don't know when we will get to start carpooling but soon I hope!

 

August was just strange, I purged a whole lot of stuff, went a little crazy on a couple sales. Overall things were just weird weird weird, but a good weird.

 

 

~Family~

 

 We made it to the state fair and all pitched in on some stuff around here, couple of parades, audio books and a whole lot of swimming lessons

 

~Finances~

Paid off 2 more credit cards, just a couple more to go before we start paying on student loans!
Stuck to my Starbucks limit
Did horrible at grocery shopping, I am not a fan of limited time to grocery shop 

 

~Self~
 I am so behind on so much. I think as moms we tend to put ourselves last. I'm guilty of that. Haven't been to the gym all month. Our office at work moved and I haven't even looked at other gyms close to us. On my to do list for September!

~Home~
Still using those Target bags to purge
Went through every one's clothes again
Pretty sure I can park in the garage again!
My planner is about ready for the crazy schedule we are about to start, should be ready by the end of the week!

September Quick Goals
~Don't eat out, get/stay in habit of eating at home, even though it is going to be really hard with our schedules. Picked up a crock pot with a timer on it to help out.

~Find a gym, even if I don't join right now, find one that will work for us close to work.

~Work in the spare bedroom and call the realtor.

~Plan fall activities- football games, apple picking and we have family pictures coming up!

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Budgeting #2 Home Managment Binder

How we organize our bills to pay

I would be completely lost without our "plan". We use a spreadsheet on our computer, I know some people prefer a hard copy but for us, the computer version is easier because I pay most of our bills online. But I do like some hard copy stuff too! You never know when you will need it.
In the finances section of my HMB we have a few sections:
1. REFERENCE

~ A list of ALL of our accounts, with the account number and customer service phone number. Even if we do not use them right now, or haven't in a while. I keep the info for about a year or so just in case there is an issue down the road.

One day I might figure out an easier way to share these printables!

 

~ The due date for each account we have, everything from credit card to water bill. I'd hate to get a late fee for being 1 day late!

~ Calendar with paydays listed. Hubby gets paid every other week so we split things up in a spreadsheet by paycheck.


~ Folder pocket for incoming bills to be paid.

2. THE PLAN

~Our Snowball plan with all our debts listed in order to be paid off, so I don't have to re figure it every month, it shouldn't change without there being something major.

~Paycheck Plan (IF I get around to printing it out, usually don't) This is what we use to decide what bills get paid with each of hubby's checks. Makes my Friday bill paying so  much easier to already know what to expect, I just match it with what came in the mail, or e-statements.

~List of upcoming irregular expenses. Things like drivers license renewal, car tags, swimming lessons, sports fee's all those things that can add up!

3. CASH ENVELOPES

~I just use some dollar store school envelopes and a page protector that is made for 4x6 photos, it holds them well, I can see them and get to them fine. But I would like to get something like these, or maybe make them in my free time (haha)

 

 

But it would also need a 3 hole punch, or some easy way to keep them in my Home Management Binder.

 

4. GROCERIES

 

~This one might be getting cut soon as I have less and less time. But if you have time and ambition to keep it up it's super helpful.

I have a list of our frequent purchased items per month. So I know about what our grocery bill should be each month if we I stick to it at the store. It makes it a little easier to plan grocery shopping if I know something is expensive I can split them up between to the 2 grocery trips each month and not have 1 be way more than the other. I like consistency. Knowing the approximate price for our usual things helps me to know when is the right time to stock up. If it's a great deal I would buy more and save a little the next month.I have a spreadsheet with all the groceries. I used to just use our receipt and update the prices for the store I went to. I pretty much only go to 1 or 2 stores now that so many are price matching. That has really helped too.

 

~I also have an envelope for grocery coupons (SO few and far between for stuff we buy)

 

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2013~Finances

How many of us hate talking about, or even thinking about finances?!

It's not a FUN thing for sure. And for a lot of us it's stressful! 

We are always trying to do our best and make the best choices financially 

but also give our kids fun experiences without spoiling them. Sometimes that is hard to juggle.

Our goals for this year 

Finances

~GIVE UP COFFEE! (well paying for it anyway)

~Keep chugging along on Dave Ramsey's Snowball Plan

~Look for a part time, temporary job that fits our schedule

~Keep up with meal planning (avoiding buying things we don't need, or are not on sale)

~STOP going to Target as often, cause I have NO willpower there!

~SEW more clothes!

~Love our library even more

Plan

~Giving up coffee has been a multi year struggle for me. Starbucks just makes it SO easy! I have been getting decaf when I have been getting it hoping I can cut ties easier. But I won't be giving it up entirely. If I have to go into town for grocery shopping I think 2 a month will be fine. But no more trips INTO town for coffee. I also started using my coffee maker instead.

~We have slowly been using Dave Ramsey's Financial Freedom plan and it feels like we will be on step 2 forever some days. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel! 

We haven't been good with the envelope system, going to re instate that this year, like now.

~ I am looking for a super part time job. One close to home for a few hours after hubby gets home and maybe a little weekends. Wish me luck!

~Meal planning is usually easy enough for me. I do 2 weeks worth after checking the ads and our stock. I don't want to spend more than we need to or do more work than I need to. And living out of town makes forgetting something or changing the meal plan expensive by either having to drive into town or paying way too much at our local market.

~Oh Target we have an unhealthy relationship! Not only is it kinda far away, there really are few times we actually NEED something from there. So just planning on avoiding unless we absolutely need to go and taking all the kids with me, that makes me want to rush a bit more and shop less!

 ~I have a sewing machine and all kinds of patterns just lacking confidence. I have to get over that. My plan is to make a dress or pants (for either my mini or I) when hubby is out of town. I have all kinds of free nights and NO reason not to, especially since I already have a bunch of fabric too!

~Library love.. well I started these goals BEFORE Christmas and my birthday, but hubby and the kids got me a nook, so while I probably won't be visiting the library as much, I will sure download all the free books I can. This will save us some money. I usually read a book or 2 a week, that can add up!

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