I know that in my home, we have to follow a budget. House payment and all household bills must be paid before we can do fun activities outside the home like going to the movies or eating out. Each week our family has a certain amount of money after bills to pay for food, gas to get back and forth to work, and the remainder is put into our fun fund. If after that there is additional money left over, we put it on the credit cards and other loans to help us to try and get out of debt faster.
I have found that if I go into the grocery store with a list of what I need for the next week's meals, and know that the amount it will cost to purchase those items it close to my budgeted amount, I am less likely to buy things not on my list. It also helps to know that if I do go over my budget, that I then have to remove that money from the fun fund. Knowing that going over budget takes away small fun things not only for the family, but individually for me as well, helps keep me on track.
Gas money for the week is a must. I can remember when I was younger, my brother was always coming and asking my mom to borrow money for gas. By not budgeting for gas, he had caused 2 problems: he must borrow from someone else in order to be able to get to work & he would then start the next week in the hole by however much he borrowed.
The fun fund was started by my husband when we were first married. We were making very little money and our schedules often were opposite one another. Therefore, on the occasion that we both had a day off together, we did not want to waste it indoors. Living in the south at the time gave us the opportunity to do quite a bit without spending money. However, it was just nice to be able to go out to dinner or out to a movie every now and then. The fun fund doesn't have to be spent each week. It is nice when it adds up and we can do something special with the kids like taking them to an amusement park for the day.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes I get frustrated when it seems like there just is not enough money to do the things we want to do all of the time. However, I know that every time that we have an extra couple of hundred dollars, it is put on a bill to get it paid off early. For every bill paid off early, we are a little closer to our goal of being debt free!
