Welcome to Family Budgeting Basics - class starts May 5
Hi everyone, Joyce here. Glad you're signed up. Week 1 we're building your first budget by hand, on paper, line by line, the way I've done it since a legal pad and a bank statement caught Rodney's forgotten magazine subscription years ago. Before May 5, introduce yourself below and tell me why you signed up. I read every one and I remember who follows through.
Ok but can we talk ABOUT how every "family budget template" ever made assumes two teenagers cost the same as toddlers. Aaliyah and Mason are 17 and between gas money, senior activities, and the fact that they both apparently need new everything for graduation, our "miscellaneous" category has eaten the whole spreadsheet three months running. I built a whole tracker with categories and color coding and it is USELESS right now. Sooo not what I expected walking into this class.
Quick question before we start on the 5th - is this class more geared toward like, single-income household budgeting or does it also cover stuff for single people trying to figure out how much of their paycheck should even be "discretionary"? I do the spreadsheet thing already for myself (categories, sinking funds, the whole deal 😭) but I genuinely don't know if I'm overcomplicating it or if there's a smarter framework I'm missing. Anyone know if the curriculum assumes a certain starting point?
SIGNED up for this mostly because a guy at work, Derek, has BEEN doing the envelope thing but DIGITAL - some app that splits his paycheck into categories automatically. He showed me his phone during lunch and the way he tracks landscaping-supply-level detail on his OWN groceries KIND of impressed me. I'VE been tracking soil pH and fertilizer costs for two years and somehow never applied that same brain to our actual household BUDGET, which feels backwards when I think about it.
Watched a VIDEO last night on zero-based budgeting while Sadie was putting Briggs down and I liked the LOGIC of it, EVERY DOLLAR gets a job, but I feel like the real test is whether it survives four kids and unplanned COSTCO runs! Curious if the class gets into that gap between the clean spreadsheet version and WHAT happens when Paisley needs new shoes the same week the car needs an oil change.
Okay signing up but Howard and I have redone this same budget spreadsheet four times since January and it falls apart by week three every single time... something always comes up, tires, Chase needed cleats, whatever. Not sure a class is gonna fix that part
Sooo excited for this one, Carole and I have been meaning to sit down and do a budget for ages, lol! Quick question though - is this the kind where you need to bring in actual bank statements and numbers, or is it more general talk the first night?? We've got some old check ledgers (yes, I'm that old, I still balance a checkbook!) but nothing on a computer, and I don't want to show up unprepared... Anybody know?
joyce this was good ngl, didnt expect a budgeting class to stick but here we are, still using the envelope thing weeks later 🙈 hope theres a fall session 🙈 Thanks guys
Envelope thing actually works, annoying how simple it is 😂 hoping for a fall session too, Joyce ruined spreadsheets for me forever
That's exactly the kind of comment I hope for and don't always get. Envelopes still working weeks out means the habit took, not just the information, and that's the whole point. I'm sitting here at my own kitchen table tonight missing the Tuesday check-ins. Rodney says the house is quieter without me narrating other people's line items. No promises on fall, that's not mine to decide, but I'd love to see you both back if it happens.
so true about the habit part joyce, we finally have a real grocery line item now instead of just guessing every week
envelopes work for us too, honestly. brad’s shocked 🙈
lol the "brad's shocked" comment made me laugh, matthew was the same way... six weesk and he finally believes the grocery number is real
Melissa, that's the whole ballgame right there... Guessing versus knowing is exactly why I made you all write it by hand instead of trusting a spreadsheet to to feel real. A real grocery number changes how you shop, not just how you record it!
Tuesday nights at 6:30 feel strange to not have on the calendar anymore. I'm at my kitchen table tonight with no one to report back to. Tell Matthew he's in good company with Brad.
Sadie finally believes our lawn care line item too! Six weeks did it, Joyce.
Anthony, that's wonderful. Lawn care is one of those lines people guess low on every single time, and then fall comes and its a surprise. Not anymore for you two! Tell Sadie I said good work! Kind of miss reporting back on Tuesdays already.
same here on tuesdays, kept the legal pad going though. grocery number was not what i guessed either 😂
Tyson, thats the best kind of homework, the kind nobody assigned you for June. Good on you for keeping the pad going without a Tuesday deadline hanging over it. That's really the whole point, once its real to you, you don't need me anymore.
same here, spreadsheet's still updating nightly.
low key impressed Jace, nightly updates for real? 😂 mine's more like "weekly if I remember" 🤙 👍
oh man i miss the the tuesday check ins too, kinda kept me honest lol... we still got the legal pad on the fridge, jessica actually likes it better than an app. grocery line was way off for us too 😂 hoping theres a fall session, joyce, this one was so good ~boyd
fridge legal pad gang 🤙 grocery line never lies
fridge legal pad gang, love that. grocery line never lies is so real, matthew took six weeks to believe ours lol
Tyson, Melissa - I love taht this turned into a whole club... Six weeks and Matthew finally believes the grocery line, that's what I call progress. Mine's still on the kitchen table right now, actually, going through June before I file it. Feels strange not having a Tuesday to report to! Genuinely going to miss this group! If enough of you want a fall session I'll see what I can put together, but for now, keep tallying. It's how you know you're doing it right.
fridge legal pad club, count me in too
Dennis, welcome to the club, glad the fridge pad won you over too! Mine's spread across the kitchen table right now, June's numbers staring at me before I file the whole session away. Strange not having a Tuesday for it! I'll miss checking in with you all! Fingers crossed on fall.
Fridge legal pad gang for sure lol. Kinda miss Tuesdays already... hoping fall works out, Jody still hasn't looked at ours yet