Not preg related...but I need advice...

emoody87

Me, DH,and DS just bought our first house in March...we are still getting used to all the bills! We have always rented before and now are hit with some financial probs...We are both so stressed and freakin out with our DS who just turned one yesterday and one on the way!! does anyone have any advice on the way you budget or is anyone else stressing over money matters?

ellemoney:)

you should post this over on the money matters board, they are excellent with giving out advice about money!!?

sorry i have no advice, lol. ?

neonvicki81

If you have quicken or even excel on your computer, you can easily make a spreadsheet.

Save all your receipts (yes, the coffee, the gas EVERYTHING) so you can see how much you spend. Its amazing when you add it all together.

Think about the things you buy every day. 

Go out to eat less and do some coupon looking!

See how you can cut back-electricity, cable, cell phone.

Good luck!

and yes, we are a bit concerned about money since I'm not working!

voelkels

It is hard not to stress about money, especially when you are pg.

All I can recomend is to sit down and try to sort everything out, bills, paychecks, etc.  Try to see if there is anything you can cut out.

Things always work out.  Good Luck!

emoody87

Thanks so much!

abba916

We did a some spreadsheets- we did one that had our balance at the top and all our bills down the side along with spaces for paychecks- when we pay a bill we put in the number- it gives us a running balance and at the end of the month we go through the checking account to double check...

before we started the "running balance" spreadsheet, we did one with what we thought our expenses should be (bill, misc., weekly allowance, etc) and then for two weeks we kept a notebook tracking our spending- at the end of the two weeks we compared the sheet to our notes and it was really eye opening to see where money just goes....

It's a tedious process (at least it was for me) but it was worth it in the end..

Good Luck! 

ladyalmalthea

If you want some serious advice, I suggest Money Matters over on the Nest. But they can be very straightforward and brutal.

I would track your expenses for at last a month, and then see where you spend money the most. A lot of times, things like buying store brand food instead f name brand and eating out less help a lot.

 

jrnewhook

Something that helped us cut back on spending quite a bit was tallying our total monthly income and total monthly bills being paid out (we have all our bills regulated, like electricity, so no surprises). Seeing how much we had left over at the end of the month and doing a rough divide by four weeks for the month gives you a better idea of what you can afford. Also, lets you know how much you can afford to save.

Also, we cut out ALL unnecessary expenses, such as cable, extra cell phones and had our packages re-worked to fit our usage better.

jdouglas84

We took a free class at our hospital that was "Financial Planning for Baby" and the man who did the class, who was a financial advisor, was very good. Maybe there's something like this in your area? He was able to give out some very good tips, and at the end he gave out his email address if we had additional questions.