Okay, as most of you know, I have a few wallets that I use for my day to day expenses. They are dollar store wallets with labels on them, indicating what fund they hold.
I have one wallet for my Utilities, which is if I have to pay for an RV Dump, or buy Propane. I have others for: contingency, entertainment, treats, and yes Groceries.
This is how I am able to stay on budget because each payday I just refill each wallet up to whatever budget I have set for each individual wallet.
For reasons of simplicity I just use multiples of $20.00. This is because it is much easier to just get a fistful of twenties from the bank and count them out for each wallet.
What this means is that what I do with regards to those wallets affects the next payday. If I spend $60.00 out of the groceries wallet during a payperiod, then I have to put $60.00 back.
Simple, right? Well, here is where it gets complicated. Since I refill those wallets in denominations of $20.00, anything less than twenty is not counted.
So, if I actually have $70.00 in that wallet I would still put $40.00 back in it, to top it up to my grocery budget of $100.00.
This means that each time I am about to crack one of those twenty dollar bills I have a moment of pause. I keep thinking how I can get buy and not actually crack that twenty and still make it to payday.
It may seem silly, but it is a little game I play with myself to see how far I can push things. Do I really need to buy more mayonnaise or can I stretch what I have until payday?
Sometimes I will raid the smaller bills from one wallet to fund another. Usually it is the extra from the Utilities wallet to top up groceries (or sometimes Treats).
I can do this because I crack a twenty each time I refill a bottle of propane, yet it only costs me about $12.00. So that extra $8.00 is up for grabs.
So, here I am facing the weekend (when I usually buy my top up groceries) and facing that challenge . . . to economize some more and make it until a week Sunday, buy what minimum I need right from the bank account, or just crack a twenty?
As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!