Our November Budget Recap - Meredith Rines

On the blog, we’re going to start something new. Each month, I’m going to record a quick video sharing with you a budget recap.

I think it’s important to be real and show you that some months are better than others. It’s okay no to be perfect all the time, but what we have found what is most important is just making progress towards our goals.

I use this very simple budgeting template to help us keep up with how we’re doing, which is great. I highly recommend to anyone trying to get their budget in check to make sure you actually know two things: how much you want to spend and how much you actually spend. By creating a starting point with your money then you’ll be able to gauge how you’re doing and what areas you are succeeding in. For instance if you budget $100 in eating out for the month and then you only spent $75 that’s a big win! On the other hand, if you budget $100 and spent $125 then you know that you need to either work on lower what you spend or up your budget.

After I create my starting budget at the beginning of each month, I then track my spending using envelopes to help me stay on track. This technique allows me to only spend a few minutes each week updating our budget template, because I go off our envelopes.

So I’m going to show you my envelopes for last month and our completed budget spreadsheet, so you can see just how good (or bad) we did. I won’t be afraid to hide our mistakes or mishaps from you. Budgeting isn’t about being perfect, it’s about making progress and working towards your goals.

You can watch November’s budget recap online or below:

How did you do for November? It never hurts to review your budget or your envelopes to make sure you’re on track. We started our budget with knowing what our big financial goals were – paying off student loans, saving up to buy some land and putting more back towards our retirement. By being on the same page when we created our budget, we understand the pressures we put on ourselves to watch our spending.