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My approach to household budgeting is a "no-fun, no nonsense" strategy which deals more with trying to make your dollar go a longer distance than a mere technical allotment of monies. It has to do with a mindset and a modification of how we view the worth of our dollars. These days, with the advent of credit cards, computers, and the internet, we no longer get to see our hard-earned money as tangible units, but rather as numbers that go up and down on a page or a screen. When we spend money, the memory of having spent that amount is gone once a credit card has been swiped. Looking at an empty wallet where money used to be speaks volumes when we want to understand the concept of money and making a budget. So, for all intensive purposes from here on, convert what you have in terms of a household budget, to paper money that you can see, feel, and even smell. That is real money.

Remember, we are trying to pare away excessive expenditure and making our dollar stretch. First of all, look at your household budget as broken up into two parts; one where expenditures are fixed ( that means you spend practically the same amount every month), such as the mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, etc. The second which is flexible and you can choose to spend less or, more depending on your discipline. That is the part where you can try to conserve. These include clothing, food, entertainment, etc.

By nature, I am an impulse buyer and by nature, I am a hoarder, and like everyone else I used to be a collector. After seeing the hundreds and thousands of dollars spent in my youth on foolish things which I neither needed nor wanted, I began to see the folly of my ways, especially when I moved and downsized in retirement and saw what a pack-rat I had been.

GUIDELINE #1:
On pay day, leave in your account what is needed for fixed items as mentioned above. For each pay period, take out, in cash from your account what is needed for sundries. Take several zip-lock bags, or envelopes and decide what you can afford to spend and put specific amounts into each envelop. For instance, if you spend $500 in groceries each month, put $125 into the envelope marked for food for each week. Next, make a grocery list and keep to that list. Buy only what is written and go only once a week. Do not run to the 7/11 for small food items. Before going grocery shopping, on Sundays, go through the newspapers and clip out coupons for weekly specials and discounts. Shop and plan your meals around weekly specials.

GUIDELINE

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