I Finally Got It!

Some people like to spend money, others like to save it. I have always been a saver. I would rather have a stack of money in my savings account than a bunch of cute shoes in my closet any day. I love balancing my check book and creating and following a budget. I really don't like shopping that much because I always feel so guilty when I spend money, even if it is for something really important and completely necessary. I watch people spend and spend their money without a care in the world and I wonder, "How on earth can they do that?" "How can they sleep at night?" Not to mention those who have absolutely no control and with the use of credit cards spend way more than they could ever think about making. It just doesn't make sense to spend more than you make. What every happened to "living within your means?"

Anyway, for the last three months I have been fighting a budget battle. When we first got married Devin and I decided to create a budget and live off of his salary and save all of mine. That way when I quit working it wouldn't be too much of a shock. Well it still has been a shock. We always had that bumper of my salary. Now we are really on a fixed income without any bumpers. And as much as we joke around that we would rather live on Ramen so I could stay home with our little girl, I'd like to not feel like we are completely in the poor house. There had to be a way that we could use our money wisely and still be able to live comfortably and not be on "financial pins and needles" all the time. Since June I have been working and working to find places where we could save money so we could "live within our means." I am happy to report today that I think I have finally figured it out. Thanks to iBank and Excel Spreadsheets I think I have finally found the perfect way of managing our money. I cannot express in words how nice it feels to finally be at peace with the budget. I've even figured out how we can continue to save money each month so that our savings will continue to grow for those rainy days that come quite often. I'm such a nerd! I had so much fun today looking at the data and comparing monthly totals and all of the different spending trends. I even e-mailed the spreadsheets to Devin at work today because I was so excited about it.