Zig Ziglar used to say, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”
When it comes to money and household finances, this means without a budget there is plenty opportunity for things to go wrong. You need to start with a strong foundation so you can be successful between paychecks.
I have been working with a zero dollar budget for about a year now. That is a Dave Ramsey thing. Having a place for every dollar to go. Budgeting all of your output to match your input and tweaking as you go along if need be.
When we get paid, I pay bills right off the top. Then I can tell more accurately if I need to tweak our “fun” money for the week.
It isn’t a perfect system. Though it’s the closest to one I’ve found. I use the Every Dollar website on the computer to put together my budget and to go back and refer to over the month. Each month I build a new budget on there and can add/ subtract bills accordingly.
It’s still a work in progress. Trying to get it right every month, or the manipulation when an unexpected bill pops up. It helps tremendously though and I highly recommend it.
Making Time For Me 