Budget budget who's got the budget?

One of the rewards of being married is finding solutions to problems or situations. Budgeting has been a thorn in our sides only because its been hard to find a tool to use that fits what we need. We've tried some of the popular tools and have found them to be restrictive and useless. Most software out there appears to merely be accounting software and doesn't really help you budget...just keep track. We kept searching and we have finally found something that fits us and is working well for us. Budgeting is now fun and exciting and liberating and we love it.

I have always been drawn to the idea of the envelope method of budgeting. This is where you put a specified amount of money in separate envelopes each month. Each envelope has a different purpose. When you spend money on a certain thing, you use the money from that specific envelope. In today's world we don't work with cash so we wanted to find some software that would keep virtual envelopes for us.

We found several options and finally settled on NeoBudget. Its cheap and does what we need it to do. Plus its online so we both can access it anytime we need to. We LOVE it! As I've talked to friends, many have shared our frustrations with budgeting. Thats why I decided to post this blog. We love this program because it puts money into the envelopes we create so its like we have several little savings accounts within our budget. Plus its super cheap. Its only $2.50 a month and less than that if you buy a 6 month or 1 year subscription.

Since using the program we've started doing things we've never done before when it comes to money like sticking to a limit with grocery shopping. This week we went grocery shopping, had a limit in mind, AND used a calculator to help us as we loaded up our cart. It was AWESOME. We actually had to make some decisions and prioritize if we were gonna stay below our limit. We put things back, weighed our produce, and made some trade offs for less expensive options. In the end we got everything we needed AND were $25 under budget. Now that $25 stays in our grocery "envelope" and can be used for other things next time or maybe even a splurge since the money will be there. We were VERY proud of ourselves and excited for the possibilities to come.

Here's a referral link if you're interested. Yes we do get rewards for referring friends but the main purpose of this post is just to share our successes in the hopes that someone else may benefit! Happy budgeting!!!

http://www.neobudget.com/r.Suzanne897