twosmallcones

I’m a little late this year in posting my annual, Budgeting Thoughts, but better late than never, right?

flower feels.

With the exception of baby Arco and a new car loan, this year’s budgeting goals are no different than last year’s (which you can read about here). We are still hammering away at my student loan, but with the addition of Myrtle and subsequently, her car loan, we are tackling this loan first. The APR is higher and the debt is slightly less. In following Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball method, he’d appreciate us attacking our lower, more manageable debt first.

That said, how have we managed to maintain a budget with our tiny human onboard? It has been a learning experience and one, as you can probably guess, I’ve loved the challenge of.

adventuring near Mackey, Idaho.

Like any new purchase, budget goal or debt-free quest, we augment our budget accordingly. Before Arco was born, we did the same. We stacked the cards in our favor by increasing the amount of money we put toward savings and by opening an Arco-specific account for unexpected items or those emergency, late-night diaper runs. In rearranging our budget slightly then, our new monthly budget has been meeting our needs (and more), satisfying all of our monetary obligations (i.e., mortgage, truck loan, student loan and daycare), and increasing our savings – we are still able to allocate some monies to savings and retirement each month, now.

a good way to spend less and have an adventurous summer – camping!

Feeling confident in and maintaining our budget didn’t happen overnight. It took years (five and counting) of learning, reshaping and massaging, for us to develop a satiable sense of confidence. Heck, learning about money can feel overwhelming, even daunting, but we’ve found, that one of the easiest ways to feel motivated in managing a budget, is to learn about it, little by little. Or, if you’re like me and find financial diets fascinating, the podcasts below are great resources and good places to start when reconfiguring your financial situation.

• Marketplace: this podcast is more about the economy than personal finance. Regardless, super good.
• So Money with Farnoosh Torabi: great interviews with folks; all about money and budgeting.
• You Need a Budget (YNAB): personal finance budgeting app and podcast, with episodes highlighting budgets and other realistic money topics: your “Budget Bucket List” and more.

Aside from books and podcasts, and probably more important, is to trust yourself. You’re smart and capable. Money is personal and can be shaped to meet your needs; everything about money and budgeting is figure-out-able. Go get it!