Our Budget Binder: Deluxe Home Binder Printables in Action! (2024)

G’day, mates!

Yesterday, I shared how Mark and I are venturing into uncharted financial waters this new year: we’re going to try a cash budget envelope system. I have to say, I was really encouraged by the flood of comments, many from others who have adopted the same system! I’ve enjoyed seeing all of the Dave Ramsey fanatics come out of the woodwork. Now, if you’re just tuning in and are like, “Dave Who?” be sure to catch up by reading yesterday’s post HERE;itincludes a free printable or Silhouette cut file for creating some wallet-sized cash budgetenvelopes of the “pretty” variety.

Today, I’m going toshareabout our brand spankin’ new Budget Binder, what’s inside, and howit was such an incredible tool for helping us set a monthly budget and divide our spending into categories. Oh, and stick with me ’till the end because I have a fab giveaway for you all with a bucket-load of goodies that will help you get organized in a major way. {Squeal!}

Okay, let’s dive in.

It’s All in the Timing

In the theatre, we throw around a phrase, “It’s all in the timing!”and those were the exact words that popped into my head when my blog buddy Abby Lawson sentme a sneak preview of her brand new eBook,*Simplify: 25+ Printables to Help You Organize Your Life, which just launched yesterday! Update: the latest version is now a Deluxe Home Binder with 108 pages of printables in three different designs for a total of 324 printable pages all together! How amazing is that?!

Our Budget Binder: Deluxe Home Binder Printables in Action! (3)

Many of you know Abby from her blog, or her first eBook Building a Framework: Everything I Learned My First Year of Blogging. Abby also made an appearance in the Expert Interviews for my eBook, Thinking Outside the Gift Box, so she’s likely no stranger to Thinking Closet readers! She has also grown to become a dear friend and someone I greatly look up to as a trailblazer in blogland.

Okay, so back to Abby’simpeccable timing:

Just as Mark and I were preparing to have a financial summit about “ProjectCash Budget,” Abbyasked me if I wanted to check some of the organization printables from herSimplifyeBook in advance. Oh, and did I mention that she offered to throw ina giveaway for my readers to help celebrate her launch? Well…I couldn’t say YES fast enough.

Serendipitously, among the 25+ printables that cover everything frommeal-planning to cleaning to gift-giving, there was a section specifically dedicated to finance and budgeting. (Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!) I immediately printed out Abby’s artfully-designed printables, popped them into a binder,and sat down with Mark to plot out our working budget for 2015.

Here’sa glimpse at our NEW Budget Binder and howit has helped us get our financial rears in gear this year! #spittinrhymes

Our Budget Binder

Okay, so I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I think it bears repeating: the “pretty” factor goes a long way when it comes to motivating me to get excited about something like finances (which otherwise causes my eyes to glaze over). I would havenevermade it through an hour-and-a-half meeting with Mark on finances last week if we didn’t have these pretty, organized printables to help keep us on track. For realz.

{Now, before diving in to the contents of our binder and how we set things up, I feel like I need to make a disclaimer about something. One piece of advice I have received from others and read about when it comes to budgeting is that you need to figure out what works best foryou. No two families’ systems will look the same.

So, I’ll share what we’re doing, but it certainly doesn’t mean it’s what you should do; only you can decide what will work best for you and your family. Also, I fully expect us to change our system from month to month depending on what’s working for us and what’s not. Creating and sticking to a budget is no easy feat, especially not right away, so giving ourselves grace to mess up and re-focus is going to be essential in this working out. That’s what I keep reminding myself!

Okay, disclaimerover. Back to the binder.}

Since we’re adopting a cash budget envelope system, that means we need to work with a zer0-based budgetwhere every penny is accounted for from month to month. That sounds daunting, doesn’t it?

Well, I thought it would be near impossible…butthankfully, with the “Recurring Expenses” chart, we were able to write down all of our yearly, quarterly, and monthly expenses that are “fixed” orfairly consistent. That includes things like insurance, rent, phones, tithe, savings, etc. We used our 2013 and 2014 credit card and bank statements as a guide for helping us predict what 2015 will hold.

On a separate sheet of paper, we made a list of categories for the “unfixed”expenses that we wanted to start paying cash for. Those include:

Groceries
Home (decor, repairs,outdoors)
Gifts
Entertainment (movies and eating out)
Travel
Clothing
Lauren’s Fun Money(Starbucks and mani-pedis)
Mark’s Fun Money(Chick fil A and sunglasses)
Bank(if we buy a movie on Amazon, we’ll takethe cashout of “Entertainment” and put it in “Bank”)

There were also certain “unfixed” expenses like carrepairs, fuel, and medical (co-pays and prescriptions)that we considernecessities and plan to pay for as much as we need to; so wedidn’t feel the need to make cash envelopes for them. We included those on our “Recurring Expenses” chart to account for them each month.

Then, we took a step back from the immediate and thought big picture! We used the “Our Financial Goals” printable to dreamcast a few different financial goals for the upcoming year with time-frames and action steps. For example, one of our big goals is to save up to buy or even build a house one day. It makes such a difference to see it spelled out on paper along withconcrete steps we can take together toward that goal.

Oh, and I haven’t even told you about myfavoriteprintable in the bunch: the “Monthly Check-In” printable. We completed it in preparation for our February kick-off of the new cash budget envelope system, looking back at the last monthto consider what we’re doing well financially and what we could improve upon. We also very quickly filled out some specific goals for the month of February, one of which is for me to finallylist my wedding dress on Craigslist…something that has been in the back of mymind for over a year now. Now, I have hopeit will finally happen.

I went ahead and printed out 10 “Monthly Check-Ins” for the rest of the year, so they’re all ready to go in our binder. The plan is for Mark and me to sit down in the week before a new month and go through the check-in together, reviewinghow we did with our cash budget envelopes and evaluate the status of our recurring expenses. We used to dread these sort of “talks,” but I kid you not, we were both giddy as school-kidswhen we wrapped our meeting last week. This feels like the beginning of a new era for us.

I think we both feel for the first time in a long time that we have a solid financial game plan and that we are a true TEAM committed to the same financial goals and the same system for carrying them out.

We will undoubtedly mess up (in fact, it’s guaranteed), but between Our Budget Binder and new cash budget envelopes, I dare say we have done a ship-shape job of setting ourselves up for success this year.

Am I allowed to give us a pat on the back?

Your Turn

Do you have any financial goals for 2015 you care to share? Or do you have any tips to share with me on budgeting based on what has worked for you and your family? Any favorite resources? Do share in the comments below!

The Ultimate HomeBinder Giveaway

Update:This giveaway is now closed.

Well, if you are in organizing mode like I am these days, then you will absolutely love the giveaway I have for you today! In celebration of the launch ofAbby’s new eBook,Simplify: 35+ Printables to Help You Organize Your Life, one lucky reader of The Thinking Closet will receive a copy of the eBook, a collection of pretty supplies to help them put together their own organized home binder, and $25 in PayPal cash to go toward printing costs. Woot!

So…what else is this eBook?

I’m so glad you asked! Basically it’s a big, giant collection of printables that will organize everything, and I mean everything. You got a glimpse at several of the printables, but those were just the finance ones. Here’s what else is included:

Along with the printables, Abby includes detailed explanations of how she uses each sheet and shares multiple ways to put every printable to good use. Gotta love the practical application factor!

And did you mention goodies?

Absolutely! Not only am I giving away a copy of the book today, but Abby has also put together an incredible bundle of organizing supplies that will help you assemble your own pretty binder! Take a look:

1- Clear Sheet Protectors | 2- Post-it Page Markers | 3- Colorful Mechanical Pencils | 4- Post-it Notes | 5- Scotch Expressions Tape

6- 3 Hole Punch | 7- 3 Ring Binder by See Jane Work

8- Tabbed Dividers by See Jane Work | 9- Colorful Pens | 10- Tabbed Sub-Dividers | 11- Highlighters

Tons of fun goodies! And on top of everything else, the winner will also receive $25 in PayPal cash to use toward printing costs. So basically, you’re about to become the most organized person you know! {Smile.}

Sound good? Then, be sure to enter using the Rafflecopter widget below (internationals welcome!). This giveaway closes at 11:59 p.m. Monday, January 19th.

If you’d like to know more about Simplify: 35+ Printables to Help You Organize Your Life or see Abby’s tour of her own organized binder, be sure to head over to Just a Girl and Her Blog after you enter the giveaway below! And tell her I said, “Hi!”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note: The full giveaway prize is open to all humans age 18 or older at time of entry who are residents of the United States. Residents of other countries may enter (except where prohibited by law) but are only eligible to win the eBook Simplify: 25+ Printables to Help You Organize Your Life and the $25 PayPal cash. In the case of a winner from outside the 50 US states being chosen, they will receive the eBook and $25 PayPal cash, and a US winner shall be drawn and will receive the binder materials and a copy of the eBook. This giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. eastern Monday, January 19th, 2015. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Thanks so much for entering! Have a wonderful week!

*Full Disclosure: I received a free preview copy of Abby’s eBook in order to share this review. However, all opinions are my own. I only recommend products or services I personally use and believe my readers will love. This post containsaffiliatelinks, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, The Thinking Closet may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for helping to support this site!

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