Bullet Journal February Overview

I thought now would be a good time to make an update post about my bullet journal. I realized that making a post every week is a little bit of overkill. So unless I add anything super special that I'm excited about, I will only make a short post each month so that you can see any new things I have added.

I think it will be fun to make a memories page each month! We had a great first month of 2017, Josh got promoted to full time at his job, and we spent time with the staff from our church in Arkansas. It has been so fun getting to know the other staff member's families and making more connections so that we can really feel like Pittsburg is home. January also marked the beginning of my last semester of college and I'm happy I was able to end the month with all A's! I also started my first bullet journal and participated in the #planwithmechallenge on Instagram. 

I know my mom really likes these wreaths, I tried to make it a Valentine's theme but it kind of turned out more Christmasy. The little hearts are fun though and I like the bright green leaves with light pink berries. 

February has been a crazy busy month!! Oh my gosh, I have had so much going on. We've been doing well on our goals. We're still waiting to hear back from the bank about being pre-approved for a loan but we do have a few houses that we really like!

I've also started journaling a little bit about what I'm reading in scripture. I'm going through Proverbs on my own, which is taking forever because I'm not doing to well at reading consistently. I'm enjoying Proverbs because most of the things are conceptually easy to understand but really difficult to apply to life. Not gossiping is hard, and not starting quarrels is harder for me, and let's not even talk about not eating too many sweets...

My weekly spread still looks the same. This week while I was planning for next week I was feeling the grays and blues. I'm so thankful that next week is not look as crazy as last week! 

This is a fun new page I added! I told Josh I want to watch The Proposal soon because he's never seen it. So I thought, hmmmm, I need a movie page in my bullet journal to keep track of movies I need to watch! I like how this turned out, except for the crazy large "V", that's a little weird. 

That's it for February, but I will be sure to update you all in March! I'll be participating in the #planwithmechallenge again next month so I might have some new fun pages to share, we'll see! 

How to Stay Motivated About Sticking to Your Budget

Photo by Green Chameleon

One of the hardest parts about having a budget is actually sticking to it and staying motivated about using it. Budgets can feel extremely restrictive, making it hard to want to follow through on the limits you set for yourself. Self-control is never an easy thing but I'm going to share with you 5 tips that have helped Josh and I stay consistent and relatively excited about our budget.

1. Make Your Own Budget Format

Josh and I have created our own spreadsheet through Google Sheets to track our expenses in a month. There is just something helpful about creating a system that works well just for you. For us it creates ownership, we've put effort into a system that helps us track our spending, income and goals so that helps us put it to good use instead of wasting it. We can also change it any time we want, fix the system if part of it doesn't work well for us. Specifically we use Google Sheets because we can both access it on our own computers or on any computer where we can log in to our Google account.  I have plans to make a tutorial post that might help those of you who struggle with Google Sheets.

2. Set Financial Goals

Financial goals are so helpful. We really like Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps. They aren’t steps that can be completed in one day, they take some effort and perseverance because some might take a long time and the length may be frustrating. But they are logical and we like that we didn't have to think them up ourselves. Also, Dave Ramsey's website has a lot of helpful resources on various topics. Right now, Josh and I are working on Baby Step #2 which is paying off all short-term debt. We're hoping that we get our debt under control before we have any little mouths to feed (I've heard little mouths can be quite expensive). 

3. Give Yourself Rewards

I am so excited and motivated to pay off debt! You want to know why? Josh and I have a series of rewards for completing that goal. For Josh, we agreed he can save up for a truck after we pay off the debt. He sold is old truck in 2015 and I think he misses it almost every day. It's a great motivation for him. We also want to go on a vacation together, maybe go overseas and do mission work and travel in the US. We have a number of rewards for after we are finished paying our debt that I'm so excited for. Having rewards makes me want to save more and not spend as much so that we can continue paying off that debt. Now obviously things still get in the way, like we have to find a place to live this year and we've decided to buy a house that's a big expense that we're saving for instead of paying off debt right now. And that's okay!

4. Use an Online Tracker 
We like to use an online tracker, Mint, that is connected to our bank account, loan accounts, our credit card (not Dave Ramsey friendly, but necessary if you want to rent a car unfortunately), and even property we own. This is helpful for us because we can go to one place to monitor all of our accounts. Not only that but we're able to track all of our expenses and categorize them which is not something you can do through your regular online bank account. Mint is similar to Every Dollar through Dave Ramsey but we found Mint first and like that we can access every function of the site for free. 

5. Be Flexible and Give Yourself Some Grace
You are not going to be perfect at sticking to your budget if you have never had one before. That's just reality. There are two big reasons for this. One, you aren't used to tracking your money or limiting what you buy and this is something that has to be practiced. Telling yourself no is not an easy task. Two, you might create some budget constraints that aren't achievable or realize that you thought would spend more than you actually do. My advice is to go with your budget for three months and then look at the averages of each category. This will help you create a more accurate budget. Ultimately realize: one, that you aren't a perfect person and two, sometimes life doesn't go as we expect. 

I hope these tips will keep you motivated to use your budget and stick to it! Budgeting will help you accomplish financial goals, help you to see what you spend your money on and help you make decisions on what to buy. For spenders this is a great step on the way to becoming a saver!