What recession?

After balancing the checkbook last week, I realized that in the month of April alone Ben and I spent over $400 eating out. That includes anything from an ice cream at Sonic to dinner at Outback and everything else inbetween.

When we started planning on my maternity leave, we took the advice of many people, and combined our checking and savings accounts. I was VERY reluctant and did not like the idea. Why? I know too many people that are married where one person is "in charge" of the finances. In most cases its the husband and so the wife is left with an allowance or having to ask for money when she needs it. Well...not me. I felt like if I went to school, graduated with a degree, and have my own job, then I am definately NOT asking anyone for money...especially when it's MY money in the first place. But, like I said, I got over myself and did it anyways.

Now, I'm glad. Isn't it weird how things like that work out.

Ben, however, never kept up with his checking account. His answer for that was, "I keep it in my head." Yeah right. If you know me, you know that I'm anal and OCD. There is no way I could live with that, so I'm the one that keeps up with our finances.

Being on maternity leave since Christmas and receiving my last paycheck at the end of March, spending $400 a month (or more) eating out just seems like too much! That doesn't include other purchases "just because" that we come across or feel like we "need". We don't NEED half the stuff we convince ourselves that we do, haha. I think that's the same for almost everyone.

So anyways. Even though we are doing great on Ben's income (between school and church), I told him that I'm not happy with our finances and the way we're keeping track. We are both terrible at just swiping our debit cards and moving on our way. We keep our receipts in a cannister in the kitchen that I try to update every Saturday. Even still, there are things we miss and so I'm stuck balancing the checkbook by logging in to our online banking statements and just copying down the purchases from there. I hate this since some things take a few days, or longer, to clear and appear on our statements online. It's not accurate and I don't like it.

So what's the plan you may ask? Cash only.

Ben gives me a hard time about saying once, "I don't need cash. It's overrated." And ofcourse about an hour later I had to ask him for a dollar so I could buy a soda from the vending machine, haha - go figure. His repsonse was, "I thought you didn't need cash?"

I told Ben I would like to try the following plan (for atleast a month) and see how it goes. At the end of a month's time we can evaluate the process and see if it worked or not. Here's the plan:

On Sunday evenings after church, we will go to the bank and withdrawal a specified amount of cash. This amount will be the same each week. That will be our weekly "allowance". If we get to the end of the week and realize we're short on cash...then it will be our responsibility to make other choices such as eating at home, etc. If by the next Sunday there is cash left, then we will only withdrawal enough money to make up the difference of our starting amount each week.

Making sense so far?

I want to put our debit cards in our dresser drawer and leave them there. We have been very fortunate to be able to get all (3 I think) of our credit cards completely paid off. Ben has one that I know of and I have two. Being newlyweds that bought a 105 yr old house, completely gutted and remodeled it, both new teachers, and Ben in school...I figure we are VERY lucky to have those paid off. Our only "debts" are school loans, our house, and car. The way I see it, who doesn't have atleast those?

By leaving our debit cards at home (unless we are going to the grocery store or somewhere specific with a specific list or purpose), we will be less likely to just buy on a whim. We will have our credit cards just incase we find ourselves in an "emergency" and need more than the cash we have. We can always come home and make the payment since we pay these online from our checking accounts anyways. It'd practically be the same thing.

By using only cash, it's easier to "see" how much you're spending and in some cases...wasting. I think this will help us budget better and be better stewards of the wonderful jobs/incomes that God has blessed us with. Also, by doing so, hopefully the only things we'll have to keep track of in the checkbook will be bills, weekly allowance withdrawals, grocery visits, and ofcourse the best of all...deposits. :)

I'll let you know how this plan works out. When talking to Ben about it lastnight he said, "Yeah, we can try that. It sounds good, but I think it'll be hard." I assured him that I feel like that's the point...to make it hard to just spend when it isn't necessary. It sounds good in my head, so I just hope it works. Wish us luck!