Working full days, coming home to the boys, maintaining everyday parenting duties and creating my dream, well, I’m spent, literally and figuratively.
The financial demands on a household, including summer camp day care, are hefty. My dream also requires a few expenses; costs that are not projected. What I need to do is plan a personal budget for the upcoming year and anticipate costs not related to everyday household expenses and divorce fees. I need to save money because I want a house again.
In this real estate market, buying a small home is feasible, or at least should be. Hopefully, with the sale of our home, we might have capital gains that I can reallocate for the purchase of another home—or maybe I just need to pay down the credit cards I have now. We have a potential buyer and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all will work out.
Guiding Lesson:
Eve, financial matters have the power to weigh anybody down. It looks like it’s time to re-assess your spending as you enter a new phase in your life. Your priorities and demands have changed. You are withdrawing from the life you had and you are making new deposits for the life you want.
So where to begin? It’s a great idea to create a budget. You may want to first take note of where your money is going. I don’t mean just your bills and big expenditures. I am suggesting writing down what you spend each day by placing the amounts in categories, such as: groceries, restaurants, entertainment, dry cleaning, gas, etc. This will help you really see where there are opportunities to readjust your spending. And nowadays, they have programs to help you with this.
So what comes first, creating a budget or gathering spending data? Does it even matter? Well, you can do it simultaneously as you figure out a budget or you can do it before the budget. Either way you will end up at the same place. It should also help verify your budget with actual numbers. This will provide information to help you consider what to cut out of your life in order to help you save money. And keep in mind that a budget is only if it is honored and followed.
There’s a lot to do with little time and little money. What do you think about doing this to obtain a greater gain by sacrificing a little today? It won’t easy. However, I promise it will be rewarding.
Love always,
Grace
MissGuidedMom 