Wenck World: Budget

I have been thinking for a while about writing a post about the Budget. With all the news today on the financial crisis the US is in, it seems like the perfect time. When the news analysts are saying you have to cut back and take responsiblity for your actions and your spending, they always go to the "create a budget and live by it" line. Oprah did a show today on being Thrifty. She had the thriftiest family in America on helping out a family that was in crisis. Very interesting stuff.

Now, if you chat with me much or know my husband well, you have heard about the Budget. The Budget is a separate entity in our house, ever watchful, ever present. Whenever I ask about buying something the response I get is "Let me check the Budget". So when I hear on the news gloom and doom, I take pride in the Wenck Family Budget and I give all the credit to the Man I Married almost 5 years ago. Oh yes, you read that right...I give him ALL the credit.

It all starts with a Feasablity Budget. This is done annually, around the end of the year (after we know if we will be getting raises for that year). This budget takes all our income and all our expenses and makes sure we are only spending or saving what we make. I also like to refer to this as the negotiation period. Chris wants to cut and I want to spend/save, so we take to bargaining. We also take everything we can think of into account. Pet expense, eating out, personal allowance $ (this goes for me, chris and each of the boys, yes the 7 week old has a budget too). We plan for gifts thru out the year...pretty much, you name it, we plan for it. Now of course something get missed, but that is to be expected.

Once the terms are agreed on Chris sets up the 365 day cash flow budget..oh yes, you read that right too, 365 DAY!! This shows all $$ coming in and all $$ that is expected to go out. Another key to the Budget is automatic bill paying and automatic spending. The majority of our household expenses are set up on an automatic payment systems. All of our savings is automated too. We save for property taxes, insurance, long-term household repairs, car repairs...you get the idea. ING is wonderful for this because ING allows me to set up numerous accounts....that is a dream set up for a nerdy accountant type like myself. Each savings catergory has its own account.

Another one of our tricks is to use our solo credit card to our advantage. We have a rewards plan that pays us cash back once a year. In years past we have received over $800. The Budget likes that!!!

So, what are the results of our Budget.

we don't have a car payment,
we only have 1 credit card that doesn't carry a large balance,
we save up and pay cash for something or we don't get it
we don't lose sleep at night wondering if our house will be foreclosed on
we don't worry about paying off our multiple credit card bills

Now we didn't get to this point alone. At one time we both had credit card debt and we also had student loans. Through some fortunate situations we were able to pay all those off early in our marriage.

And if you wonder if we are raising our children in the Budget Doctrine, just look at this picture