Its that time of year. The last few days of the year and everyone is trying to decide their New Years Resolutions. But not this Momboss. I’ve never really liked New Year resolutions because I never stick to them. I do however love lifestyle changes and improvements. I like to say I’m a goal slayer at goal setting! So as I sit and ponder what I want to improve I’ve decided to share my goals with you and throughout the year you will get to see how I slay each of my goals. I’m going to do it in a 3 part post starting today thru New Year’s Eve. Yesterdays Post was Health today I will post about finances and how to budget.

Finances

A family of 6 right here. Basically, that means money is always something to be thought about. I started trying to save but we had a huge setback when not one but 2 of our kiddos needed the same surgery. Can you say copay tears? But it was worth depleting our savings so that they would be ok. #noregrets. Things got a little tighter after my hubby was in a bad car accident that totaled my van and messed up his back. But what’s a mom to do but start making a MomBoss plan? So that’s what this mama did. I made a plan.  I signed up for a bunch of apps and programs that helped me save money and earn a little. Read about them here: Save and Earn Money

• I decided to start rebuilding our savings.  I signed up for an App called Digit. Basically, it monitors your spending habits and will put small amounts into savings based on your habits. I was able to save about 400$ using this app. It is free for a short time and then is 2.99$ per month but is worth the price.  I also decided to start setting aside a set amount from each paycheck no matter what.  It’s not a lot. 100$ a paycheck but that equals 400$ in savings a month. My goal for this year is to increase that to 200$ per paycheck.  Part of rebuilding our savings involved building our sons. We always make it a goal to deposit money into their accounts from each paycheck.  I made this a consistent deposit. Now if you know me in person you know I love to shop so to ensure this savings happened I ensured all checks were direct deposit. This allowed me to set up how much from each paycheck would automatically be transferred to the other accounts. This made it out of sight out o mind. So yes I did all my saving this year by making sure I didn’t have to think about it. I plan to continue this thru next year and hopefully increase the amounts.

• I made a Budget Book.  As you can tell from the miniature fingerprints the kiddos helped. All it is made from is a 3 ring binder, the pages I added, and lots of decorative tape and love.It allowed me to write down all our spending so I could have a visual way of tracking it. Here are the sheets I made.Feel free to download and edit how you choose. There are also apps that allow you to make a budget but for me, I remember better if I write it down so budget book it was.

Monthly Budget Free Printable           Bill Schedule Free Printable

• My next step was trimming the excess. We used to eat out alot and do a ton of shopping and outings. These unnecessary things were the first to be downsized. We set up an eating out budget that basically consisted of we would eat out twice a month with the kids and once just the hubby and I. I noticed the first month alone we had an extra 300$ just from reducing how much we ate out. Our family outings stayed consistent but instead of it always being something we spent on we started doing things I found Groupons or coupons to or that were free. This saved us money also and I found by searching Groupon and Living Social we were still basically able to do what we always did just at a discount.

• Couponing became a best friend. I went from a 1300$ grocery and necessity bill to almost half of that by using coupons when sales were happening and building a stash of items. Filled up our cabinets, deep freezer, and shelves in the garage but after 3 big hauls 6months ago, I still have not needed to buy body wash, laundry soap, or cleaning supplies.  I organized my coupons in a 3 ring binder by using football card sleeves. I put them in the order I would shop in so it was always easy to locate the coupon I needed. If you are interested in learning more about couponing please like my Facebook Page. I will be doing a Live Q & A video mid Jan detailing how I save with coupons.

That’s how I was able to get us somewhat financially stable after taking a couple of hard hits last year. My goal for this year is to coupon more, save more money, and become so financially stable I dont watch the numbers as I fill up my truck with Gas. If you have any ideas about getting finances in shape please leave a comment.  And if you want to catch up on PT of the New Year New Me Series Click Here.

For more on Work at Home and Finances Click Here

photo credit for the featured image: marcoverch Sparschweinchen und Münzen auf einem weißen Tisch via photopin (license)