So I’ve been a bit MIA in the blog universe. Maybe it has something to do with getting married?? 
There are too many good things to say about our wedding preparations, wedding day, and our marriage. God is real, and he REALLY blesses!! It’s just incredible how He provided for us in our needs AND our wants. And the fact that He gave me a husband that I could never have even dreamed of. Jon is amazing and God is good.
Marriage has made me more aware of how selfish I am. Thats a good thing. We have been working through meshing our lives… our money, our stuff, our space… its such a cool invasion, but it requires a lot more thinking and preparation than I have ever put towards my own life. Its almost like running a business, and its so much fun despite the work it is.
The biggest challenge we have faced together is budgeting. The cool thing is that we are facing it together, instead of against each other… if that makes sense. We’ve been on the same page the whole time so far, thank you Jesus. We have started Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and cash budget system. We also incorporated a paperclip system for our cash thanks to my BFF Kylie Henry. This is the first full blown budget month. Meaning we had a budget before, but weren’t quite as serious about it. This month we have gone to the bank, taken out cash, and haven’t used our debit cards.
The challenges we have faced so far… 1) We realized that we can’t break everything into 4 even parts. For example, I thought we could divide the total food budget into 4 even weeks. However, we do one big grocery trip per month and the other 3 weeks we just run and get stuff as we run out. So the first week’s food allotment will have to be greater than the other three. 2) We HAVE to go to the bank and get specific bills. We tried going to the ATM and withdrawing a set amount, but we found that we were not able to divide the money into the categories as we budgeted. This created problems with “borrowing” because we needed to break a $20 here and there. We have managed to stay within the actual budget, but its made everything more confusing.
We are using the gazelle budget program on My Total Money Makeover. It’s great because the percentages of each category are autmatically generated. It also changes month to month because I look up the bills I need to pay and budget to the dime, so when the electricity bill goes up, our utility percentage goes up, etc. I’ll let you in on it… copying my twin.
Figurative cash categories (keeping this money in the bank)
Tithe (10%)
Savings (12%) Our goal right now is to put $1000 into an emergency fund, and then cut down to about 5% on savings and attack our debt.
Utilities (11%) This one is a little high this month because our inefficient AC doesn’t pair well with 100+ degree weather. Hopefully we’ll be able to get this one down closer to 6%
Housing (19%)
Debts (28%) Debt sucks. This one is high this month because we are paying off two large amounts. That is refreshing, but its a huge reality check when you are putting nearly one third of your income into this. If all goes to plan we will be 100% debt FREE in 5 years. That includes credit cards (which we are hoping to be free of within the year), car, and student loans (thank you, Mercer, you private school you).
Literal cash categories (when the cash is out, the spending is over)
Food (9%) We are trying really hard to eat as much as possible from home, and we have been doing very well so far! I think we are actually going to be able to cut back on this percentage. The huge kicker here is COUPONS! It’s like a mini victory for us when we go to the grocery store and save about 30% on our bill because we took the time to cut coupons once a week. The biggest coupon help for us has been an accordion file. We have a small accordion file that is labeled into categories so we can easily find out if we have a coupon for a certain item. Every Sunday we get the paper, cut coupons, organize them, and throw away the expired ones. It takes about 20 minutes a week, and the payback is HUGE!
Transportation (5%) This doesn’t include our car payment, that is a debt. The biggest challenge in this category is the $1-2 a day we pay for tolls. I think we are going to get the toll meter in our car to track it better. It’s difficult to track 50 cents here and there. We are down to one car for the first time, so we aren’t sure about gas. I cut the previous budget for gas by about 40%, but we will have to wait and see if that is accurate.
Personal/recreation (6%) This includes toiletry needs, blow money, entertainment, etc. Anything that we might need for ourselves that doesn’t fall into a previous category.
So thats the plan this month! We will see how it goes. 10 days into it we are feeling pretty good! And we are really excited about sharing this journey with you (and specifically with the Henry’s) 
LOVE to you!
