Family Finances: FAQs

I have enjoyed hearing feedback from last week's Organize It: Family Finances!  Keep the comments coming... I am loving hearing what is working for you guys!

I do want to address a few additional questions I have received.

Q: How often do you check up on your budget?

A: I check in at the middle of the month and at the beginning of the next month.  At the mid-month check in, I run a spending report in Quicken.  I am mainly wanting to touch base and see how we are doing with our "trouble" categories.  (trouble = easy to go over budget).  At the beginning of the next month, I run the spending reports for the month and update the Budget Spreadsheet.

Q: What do you do to help cut back spending on the "trouble" areas?

A: In the last six months we have implemented a new system that I am a BIG FAN of.  We each opened a separate checking account.  At the beginning of each month, we auto-transfer in XX amount.  The separate accounts are ONLY to be used for eating out and clothes (our two biggest easy-to-go-over areas).  We each have text/email alerts to let us know our balance.  My favorite part - we turned off the draft protection so if you don't have the funds, you can't use it.  Talk about a wake-up call!

This may seem drastic to some, but (a) the extra checking accounts were free (we heart our local bank) (b) we needed some extra attention in these categories (c) it's working really well for us so (d) we are sticking to it!

Q: How do you keep track of your receipts?

A: I have an ADORABLE little monthly organizer - found in the $1 bin at Target!  Score!
I keep it in my kitchen-catch-all drawer so it is readily accessible.  I put all receipts in it.

Organize It: Family Finances Wrap-Up

We have been on quite an adventure this week.  For some of you, this may have been your first ever attempt at making a budget, for others it may have been streamlining your current process.  My sincere hope is that each person has taken away a newfound confidence and knowledge about how to organize your Family Finances.  It doesn't need to be overwhelming.  We can tame this beast.  Actually, we already did:) 

Let's look at how far we have come this week.

Day 1: How/why I got into budgeting 

Day 2: Budgeting Software and gathering Account Information

Day 3: Using Budgeting Software and creating a Budget

Day 4: Entering budget into Spreadsheet and Entering into Budgeting Software
{p.s. I found one error on the Spreadsheet on Day 4, so revisit Day 4 and download the updated version.  Thanks!}

Now, let's put all the tools together.  Ready?  Let's get this done!

You should have the spreadsheet updated with your Budget totals by month.  Look to the right hand side (under Totals) and it's your yearly total.  I'm not providing any guidelines about how much you should or shouldn't spend, but I recommend making sure that your income covers your expenses.  #lifelessonfortoday

Step 1: Grab a 3-ring binder to organize your family finances for the year.  I like purchasing the binders that have a clear cover so you can add a binder cover.  Speaking of, here is the adorable printable I mentioned yesterday.  LOVE.

Family Finances Binder Cover

 Don't bright colors just make life better?  Sigh.  Moving on.

Organize It: Family Finances Day 4

A few words before we begin Day 4 of Organize It: Family Finances.

Thanks for joining me on this journey.  I have been so amazed at how many people have visited this little blog. Thank you for the love!

Budgeting is hard work.  It takes patience, perseverance and endurance to get it completed.  I wish a budget would fall from a tree, land in my hand, enter itself into a spreadsheet and be updated monthly.  Since money (or budgets) don't grow on trees, we have to do the hard work.  #lifelessonfortoday

You are following along on this journey.  You are making time for your family finances.  You are putting time and effort in a not-so-glamorous part of organizing your home.  But make no mistake, this is a crucial part of organizing your home.  So hang in there.  This is the last day of the "grit" portion and then onto the easy-peasy monthly updating portion. 

Now, grab your coffee and let's do Day 4!

Step 1: Today we will be entering your newly created budget from Day 3 into a spreadsheet.

Wait...did she just say spreadsheet?  I have no idea how to do that!

I have created a template spreadsheet for you to use (aren't I nice?) and ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ENTER YOUR BUDGET IN.  No formatting cells, no creating formulas, nada.  You're welcome. 

Click to download

*Side note: the numbers on the spreadsheet are not from my personal family budget.  I just entered numbers as an example.*

Organize it: Family Finances Day 3

You have made it to day #3 of the series, CONGRATS!  We are almost through putting the systems in place.  Stick with it! #peptalkfortheday

Step 1:  Open Quicken (or your software) and you should see your downloaded transactions.  This happens when you initially set-up the accounts.  Hopefully you were able to do the "Web Connect" feature so your transactions download automatically.  If not, comment below and we can brainstorm another solution.

Quicken guesses at categorizing your expenses, but you will need to run through your transactions and ensure that your Categories are set the way that you want them.  This will be a bit time consuming, but this will really help your accuracy in determining your monthly budget.  If you are already feeling a bit overwhelmed, please fight the urge to download ALL your transactions from the last XX years, and just focus in on the last calendar year.  At another point, you can import and categorize the other transactions. 

Step 2: Use your new software (i.e. Quicken) to see what you spend each month by category.  In my version of Quicken, I can use the "Category Summary" and see what I am spending each month.  Or, you can use the "Spending Over Time" to see what your yearly budget looks like.  Just take a few minutes to run through the reporting features and find which one fits your needs best.

Organize It: Family Finances Day 2

In the words of Maria von Trapp from the Sound of Music,  

"Let's start at the very beginning

a very good place to start."

Remember, I am not an accounting pro.  I am just a person who loves to be organized.  I have set up  systems to help keep our family finances organized.  It only takes 21 days to create a new habit.  Start day 1 of your new habit TODAY!  ***Life Lesson for the day***

For today and tomorrow, we will be getting systems in place so that the budgeting each month goes quickly and smoothly. 

Step 1: You need to decide on a piece of software to buy.  This will be the the only expense you need to make. I tried to do without software for a few years, but the software makes it SO MUCH easier that it's worth the investment.

I am a Quicken girl at heart.  I was raised on Quicken.  My stud (i.e. dad) uses Quicken so does my twinkie.  It's a family thing.  There are other options out there, but this is what I have chosen.

Quicken Products

There are so many different options depending on what you are looking for.  I previously used the Quicken for Windows and it has great reporting features, but when I switched to a Mac I switched to Quicken Essentials for Mac.  This is not nearly as powerful as the Quicken for Windows, but it's the best option for Mac users. 

So make your purchase.  This is about a $40 investment or so. In my mind, TOTALLY WORTH IT.   I repeat, TOTALLY WORTH IT.