Tuesday, July 16, 2013

New Budget Worksheet - Bill Tracker and Checklist

This is the first post in a series on the new budget worksheets I have created that will soon be available in my Etsy Shop.

Why budget worksheets, you might ask?

Well, because money management seems to be a lost art, something that most people don't really do - like cook or sew. My folks never once taught me about money management. In fact, my mom told me when I got my first paycheck and then spent it all at the mall, that "You make money to spend money." O.o Thanks Mom.

So a basic lack of planning and knowledge about money seems to be universal or at least among everyone I know. Add to the fact that while I was pregnant with The Good Daughter, The Good Husband was laid off. We were having a house built and a baby on the way and started to live on credit cards. Then TGH got a job, we moved in and TGD was born and we NEEDED all the new and shiny baby things and house things and everything else. Then we had to pay for daycare and then OOPS!! along comes The Good Son. Everything seemed to get out of control.

At the beginning of the year, we sat down and had a come to Jesus about our money. When it was coming in, where it was going out and how the fuck to get out of debt. We decided to do a debt snowball to be debt free within a few years. So I wanted different ways to track all our money and I created all the following worksheets. 

We begin the series with a spin off of two a popular budget worksheets, the bill tracker and the bill checklist. Currently, each serves a specific and useful purpose. And both kick ass while doing it. 


But sometimes concise is best, so I designed this worksheet as a way to combine both the bill tracker and the checklist. 


Here you can track each expense, the date they are due, the amount you paid each month and a handy checkbox to mark that bad boy off once you have paid. There is also space available for notes. 

The Good Husband and I plan to be debt free, with the help of these worksheets, in about 21 months. It sucks in the meantime but when we get to the end, it will be worth it to only have the house payment. Then we can save for the kids' college and I won't have to worry about TGD owing a pair of clear heels.

Come back tomorrow, when I will cover online bill paying.

2 comments:

Stephanie Eliason said...

You seem like a really awesome person with great ideas, but I don't care for crude language (just my preference, I'm not judging you as a person). I can find great ideas on other blogs that don't use crude language so I won't be coming back to your blog. Truly sorry.

Unknown said...

I love this. But I don't have a printer at all. Would you consider selling and mailing a printed and laminated version? At extra cost of course.