Unit 3 Provident Living Plan Finances

Well, this assignment has come at a perfect time! Ever since my husband I got married, almost 11 years ago, I have been in charge of our family finances. I have also kept a daily budget of our money. Years have gone by, raises have come, children have been born, and our budget has gotten a little looser than it used to be back while my husband was in college. I have often wondered how we lived on so little! I have to say that the past year or so I have done a poor job at keeping our savings at a level that I'm comfortable with. I have noticed the main reason for this is that we are spending too much in our "miscellaneous" part of our budget. Our miscellaneous can consist of money used for date nights, eating out, buying things for the house, buying clothing, etc. It's too much of a catch all. I will make it a goal to cut our miscellaneous budget in half (for example instead of spending $200 over the next two weeks I will only spend $100). I know there will still be things needed to purchase, from our miscellaneous budget, but it will only be purchased if its a necessity and not a want. I will keep a running list of items that are needed and only purchase things that I have marked on my list as a necessity. I will also limit the trips we need to make to stores as to control the "urge" to buy.  

 

My second goal is to organize myself as far as our records go; birth certificates, passports, mortgage papers, marriage certificate, bank papers like checks, etc. I have three accordion filing case that are in random order and not much functional. I have often thought of this as I worry about a house fire or a natural disaster and needed to find something quickly. I will make it a goal over the next two weeks to organize my records. I will make a file and label it accordingly and with a list (like an inventory) of what is containing in the file. (I would love to buy a fire proof safe to keep these items in but that will have to be a purchase down the road. But just knowing where they are kept and all together in one place is good enough for me.)