I always get a new planning calendar at the first of the year. It doesn’t matter if it is from Dollar Tree as long as it has days in months in it for the whole year! This is mine for 2022. I love decorating it with encouraging words using some of my old vinyl, so I am not out of any money.
I like to plan the month ahead of time and always plan on the worst-case scenario. This means I plan on what our least amount of income has been prior. My husband and my check sometimes vary so I use the lowest we have made and budget using that income. This works for us, but if you receive the same amount every month then you can use that.
Before we started, I logged every penny we spent for a couple of months, every day. This helped me to make sure I budgeted for any surprises. And boy did we have some, I didn’t plan on some pipes busting in the barn and needing to fix that nor did I budget for some tractors repair we needed. But this taught me to not only budget for repairs but to also add more to save for that “just in case”.
Of course, I use things like Fetch Rewards
I also like to use MyPoints to click on links and watch videos for points. You can redeem the points for gift cards! I have done this for years and at Christmas, I am able to cash my points in to give gift cards for gifts!
Of course, I love couponing on Saturdays at Dollar General, so when I budget I add an amount that I can coupon shop with. I can stock up and still stay within my budget.
My other love is making money while I sleep! My friend sent me a link to sign up with Robinhood Stock Investment, so I did, and they gave me one stock. I have started buying one stock every pay period. I did a little research and found stocks that pay me dividends every quarter. I use that money to purchase even more, I am investing in my future!
Lastly, I have planted a ton of fruit trees on our property. Every Mother’s Day, Birthday & even Christmas, I have asked for fruit trees. We can save a ton of money not having to buy them. We also have free-ranging chickens; these don’t require much feed and lay eggs daily for us.
I have adjusted and added to my budget the closer we get to my husband retiring, I don’t want any surprises to pop up and us not be prepared.
Let me know what you are doing to make sure you budget and stay focused!
Wow I didn’t know about robin hood stock investment and my point. I live in Africa though, are those services available also all the way here?
I will check out some of these places that you mentioned. I do love to budget and keep track of my spending.
I love Fetch Rewards and MyPoints I’ve been using since 2009. I can’t tell you how many gift cards I’ve received from both of them. I’ve had a Roth IRA for many years now but I like this idea of buying one stock at a time. Money is money and a continuous stream is what we all need in the future to live in.
Budgeting does work and I’ve even taught my kids how to budget! I have heard many great things about Fetch Rewards and MyPoints but have yet to use them. I know I need to go back and check these places out soon.
These are great budgeting ideas! I love how you are starting to ‘homestead’ the fruit trees are a great idea.
I have not used Mypoints in a while. I need to check it out again.
I’d learned some ways to how make some money while sleeping such as affiliate marketing. These are some really great tips too
We always budget our money and keep track of our expenses. Aside from our paycheck, we also have other ways to earn extra income to save more not only for now but also for the future. I will also check those places to learn more. Thank you!
We’ve been slacking on budgeting since the holidays because things got busy. I hope to use some of these tricks to get ourselves back on track!
I am always striving to budget better. I’ll have to try out your tips and tricks so that I can save more than ever this year.
It does help to be on top of budgeting to help you make sure you have enough money to last the month. I normally advise an emergency fund to cover you in case something unexpected arises.
Budgeting is so important, thanks for sharing these tips.
I learnt some amazing tips to make and save money today from your post. Thanks for sharing it