Has the anticipation been killing you? I imagine the waiting for this post has been keeping you up at night! Have no fear! I’m ready to present the final top 4 tips on how to become a budget boss and in turn take control of your money. Find more details on the first five steps here!

Let’s quickly Review the first 5 tips:

1. Make a Money Plan

2. Use a Budgeting Tool

3. Budget “Funds” are Key

4. Don’t Aim High… Start Low!

5. Simplify with Specific Categories

The Final Four Budgeting Tips

6. Have Monthly Budget Dates

Dave Ramsey introduced “budget meetings” to us. Prior to learning about this concept, Josh (the hubs) and I rarely discussed our finances. We didn’t necessarily have crazy “fights” about money but we would usually disagree about a list of things regarding finances. It was just annoying to debate the issues over and over again. Thus avoiding it became our simple solution.

It was a horrible solution because there was this underlying stress and tension between us. Fortunately, discovering Dave Ramsey‘s Total Money Makeover was just what we needed. Not only, did it give us a good strategy but it unified us as a couple. Now we talk about money all the time.

Discuss Weekly and Plan Monthly

If you discuss things weekly or multiple times a month, then it will make your budgeting date shorter and more effective. We try to have our budget meeting at the end of every month. Sometimes, we are a little late because life happens. Just try your best! The purpose behind the “budgeting Date” is to normalize “money talks” and to be on the same page regarding financial goals.

We are still Working on This

Incoming! Truth Bomb headed your way! We are NOT perfect at this. There were many times I totally fell asleep during our “budget meetings”, especially when we just started having them. We try to make it “fun” by making a “date” out of it. So, let’s rename the infamous “budgeting meeting” to “budgeting date” instead. A little dessert is always a good idea or maybe do a picnic lunch on a Saturday. A great way to add some fun to this very practical date, is to discuss future goals and dreams. Suddenly, a boring meeting becomes a meaningful conversation.

You can tailor your “budgeting date” to fit your preferences but here are the main topics that should be discussed:

Discuss last months budget. How did you do? What category do we need to adjust?
Make sure all Expenses were included in last months budget
Plan for the next month. Are there big expenses coming up that we need to prepare for ahead of time?
Each of you share 1 goal or dream that your excited about

7. Relax, It Takes Time!

The Ramsey’s usually suggest that it will take at least 3 months to get into the “budgeting” groove. There are so many kinks to work out. Sometimes, if you’re married, it can be harder. Chances are pretty good, you won’t always agree on things. I can see your shocked face! For the first three months be patient with each other and test the waters to find out how much money you need in each category. Follow tip #4 and aim low when beginning your budget and you will eventually find the dollar amount that works for you.

Say this out loud with me, “I’m going to mess up!” Repeat that three or four times in your head. Things don’t always go to plan . Of course, we all know this but we tend to forget. Some months you are going to go over budget or you won’t be able to do the “budgeting date”. Give yourself room to make mistakes and focus on WHY you are budgeting. In the end, we are fallible humans, so let go of your mistakes and learn from them.

8. Break Down your Monthly Grocery Budget and Meal Plan

Let’s jump right into the grocery shopping topic, shall we? It’s important that we plan how much we are going to spend on food each month. I have found it’s much easier to determine our monthly budget by first breaking it down into weeks or dividing it into the frequency of shopping trips each month.

Use weekly Increments to Plan for your Monthly Grocery Budget

It’s so much easier to plan for a week or two weeks than just throwing out a dollar amount that might work for a whole month. In addition, to being deliberate about how often you shop, you must be intentional about what you are buying. That my friends is where “Meal Planning” comes into play! Ask yourself the following questions to get started!

Question #1: “How often do I want to shop for groceries in a month?”

To find that magical number you need for groceries, ask yourself, “how often do I want to shop for groceries in a month?” Once you know the frequency, you can figure out what you want to spend on those trips. Let’s assume you want to do a weekly grocery shopping trip (which I recommend). After Reviewing your past Grocery receipts you decide spend $100 each week. There are 4 weeks in a month and so your budget is $400 per month.

Question #2: “Where do I go grocery shopping?”

Another question you need to pose to yourself is “Where do I go grocery shopping?” The stores you shop at also play a role in your monthly grocery budget and how you break it down. For instance, I go to Sams Club 1-2 each month. When I go to Sams Club I increase my weekly budget for groceries because I’m buying items in bulk and it adds up quickly.

Usually, I just reduce the amount I would spend on groceries the next week, so I can still maintain my overall monthly grocery budget. Or plan ahead and allocate less money from your monthly budget to each of the other weeks that aren’t Sams Club shopping Weeks.

Question #3: What are we eating?

I have a whole post on menu planning that you can find here! Some of you may plan out all the meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for the entire week but I focus mainly on dinner. For the other meals, I have a running list of breakfast and lunch meal ideas that I buy items for weekly.

If I planned every meal to feed my family of 8, my sanity would definitely suffer. Truth be told, I hate the actual process of meal planning but I love the results. If you plan ahead you will reduce your spending and also the amount of food that you waste. It’s a win, win!

A Scenario: Meet the Smith Family

Let me introduce you to the Smith Family. They have been tracking their spending and realize they are spending about $1200 per month on groceries to feed a family of four. “Jill Smith” the mother of the family decides she wants to reduce her monthly grocery budget to achieve some financial goals.

How often do I want to shop?”

Jill has read a few of my tips and asks, “How often do I want to shop?” She wants to go weekly. She looks at the $1200 of last month’s spending. She followed some of my tips I had mentioned in my previous post and starts her weekly budget low at $200 per week in hopes to reduce their monthly spending by $200- 400! Jill is aware that she may have to adjust this budget.

“Where do I shop?”

She asks herself, “Where do I shop?”. After pondering a bit, she chooses to go to a basic grocery chain, like Kroger and also take advantage of buying in bulk at Costco. As a result, she will shop at Kroger three times a month and shop for bulk once a month. Subsequently, She also decides that she wants to be able to spend more on her Costco trips and so she designates $180 per week for her Kroger budget and $320 for her Costco Trip.

“What are we Eating?”

The Smith Family is almost ready to start grocery shopping on a budget. Her last step is to meal plan on a weekly basis. After perusing my blog post on menu planning, she feels more confident that she can stick to her new grocery budget.

9. Look left and look right!

When you take control of your money, it becomes easier to adapt to life’s ever-changing circumstances. It’s important to create a budget that can also adapt to whatever life throws at you. Who, on this wonderful planet of ours, can say that each month is exactly the same? Dave Ramsey teaches that a budget is like an iron-clad agreement. Occasionally, however, the specific terms of the contract can change month to month. To reiterate, you need to stick to your overall monthly budget but what you spend on each category may change each month.

For example, perhaps you need a car repair and find out that it is going to cost a bit more than what you allocated in your “Car Repair Fund”. Remember, you have been assigning money to this specific fund for months and so this fund is decently stocked with cash. But we all know “life happens”. Don’t turn to credit cards. Look left and look right. Meaning, look at your other budget categories for that month and reassign the money to where it is needed.

Perhaps, you have extra money in your clothing or gas budget, take from those categories to fix your car. Or perhaps you have a category in your budget that isn’t a necessity, such as, your “date fund”. This is where “adulting” has to happen and you scratch spending money on “dates” that month and fix your car.

Look left and right and point your money in that direction! These financial crises can become just a small bump in the road if you tell your money where to go.