“When you are great you don’t focus on a week,
When you are great you don’t focus on a month,
When you are great you don’t focus on a year
You focus on the 24 hours that are in front of you, and you NAIL it!”
-Eric Thomas
Or maybe focus on the weekend in front of you….?
My wife and I went to a party supply store on Sunday morning to look for some wanted items for a wine and painting gathering she’s hosting next weekend. We purchased a number of items, and on the way to our van I mentioned how nice it was to have cash left at the end of the weekend to be able to buy some items ahead of time in preparation for her event.
I had withdrawn our weekend entertainment money out of the ATM on Friday. I would have ended that statement with, “as usual,” but that’s not the case. While we always plan to, we don’t always actually do it. Not surprisingly, we find that we go over our spending budget on weeks that we don’t visit the ATM, but we generally DO stay on budget the weeks that we don’t.
When our discretionary funds are stored in some combination of my wallet and Vonnie’s purse there’s a question that seems to be asked more frequently,whether it’s said out loud or internally.
“How much money do we have left?”
For example, we had a dinner event on Saturday evening at which one of our friends mentioned Target was having a great sale on soda. We had to go there anyway as my wife needed to buy a baby shower gift. We picked out a gift, a gift bag, and five 12-packs of soda. On our way to the checkout counter, Vonnie asked the question, “Do we have enough money for all of this?”
A quick wallet check confirmed that we had more than enough cash to cover the bill.
Later on Sunday I stopped by Gander Mountain because I needed to pick up some hickory wood chunks for my smoker. The sign below the bag of wood chunks stated the price was $7.98. Before bending over and picking up a bag I opened my wallet and counted out 9, one dollar bills. It was the last of our weekend entertainment money, and I had just enough.
When we are successful, every expenditure is contained within the funds for that weekend.
- Redirect Funds : If we find a great sale, we stock up. BUT, only within the confines of that week’s grocery budget, or redirecting that week’s entertainment funds. Our soda purchase at Target is a good example of this as that purchase actually came out of our entertainment funds.
- No Spending Ahead: Vonnie’s event is next weekend, so it would be easy to purchase the items from the party supply story using funds “borrowed” from next weekend’s discretionary funds. After all, it IS for next weekend. This kind of “spending ahead” will almost certainly result in overspending. Every expenditure is done with cash in hand for THAT weekend.
- Plan Ahead : This is really a special case of the “No Spending Ahead” rule. Not all weekends are created equal. Some weekends we have plans that may cost more than our budgeted discretionary funds and some weekends we have absolutely nothing going on. Each two week budget cycle contains two weekends. If weekend A requires more funds, and weekend B has nothing going on, then we can use all of B’s funds for weekend A, right? Wrong. Something will come up. It always does. If we know a weekend requires additional funding we save up ahead of time so we have the extra cash in hand when the weekend arrives.
When we follow these three simple rules, we are successful. When we don’t, we find ourselves over budget and scrambling to redo our spending plan for the remainder of the budget cycle. We just have to remember the words of Eric Thomas, and concentrate on the weekend we have in front of us, and NAIL IT.
Way to go! My husband and I gave up on specific category spending and just go for a weekly amount. Because of that — and because I don’t like carrying much cash — we still opt for the digital. We just try to check our account balance right before we leave the house. That way, we can keep a tally of whether we have enough.
If that works for you, keep on doing it ! For us, we have funds for other things in our checking account so it’s easier for us to have cash in hand so we know exactly how much discretionary funds we have. Thanks for sharing, Abigail!
You guys are like an old married couple. 🙂 It’s great when you have a plan, communicate the plan and execute the plan. Nicely done!
“like an old married couple?” LOL….we ARE an old married couple!
Sounds like you got a good plan mapped out for yourselves! I was just thinking about looking ahead too far and how sometimes it can feel daunting. I have a crazy week ahead, but if I just take it one day at a time it will be manageable.
Get a victory for the day…..and string ’em together. GO! 🙂
It has to feel good to be in a financial situation where you can make these type of plans. I remember back in the day when I would think of my paycheck weeks ahead and it was already spent. I am a planner so it would be hard for me to think just out a week financially, but it could be worth a try.
I know that feeling well, Petrish…..it seems like if you could just make it to the next payday without it being spent just ONCE you could get over the hump. Success seems so close, yet so far away. There’s nothing wrong with planning….but your focus should be on making goals and achieving them on a smaller scale. Good luck!
I love that you guys have a plan that works so well for you. We do too, and it makes MUCH difference in our money situation every week.
Having a plan is necessary, right Laurie? Nobody is successful by accident!
“If weekend A requires more funds, and weekend B has nothing going on, then we can use all of B’s funds for weekend A, right?” That pretty well sums up the way my mind worked for years – no – decades. One of Dale Carnegie’s principles is to live in day-tight compartments. It makes a lot of sense to spend in day-tight compartments too. It feels great to be current – not always catching up on the budget.
I like the term “day-tight compartments.” It makes me feel secure….hey…is that why cats always try to get into every single box?