Budget Notebook

Have you heard of the blog called The Budget Mom?  I have been using her method since the middle of June 2018.   I do not use cash envelopes.  Instead, I have 2 checking accounts.  One for just bills and the other for gas & food.  I use a small notebook instead of the print outs I could buy from this blog.  I wanted something that I could carry in my purse.  Something that I could take with me and work somewhere like the library (before Covid19).  

These are the notebooks I use.  I got them from Dollar Tree, but I can not find them now.  Each time I saw them I would buy a few.  I think I have 2 left.  After that, I will need to find something to replace this.

In this notebook, I have the following:

-A monthly break down of all of the bills and their due dates (this is new)

-Each pay and what we are paying (bill pay)

-Budget planned for 3 months at a time.  Like October, November, and December.  With each pay for the month on the month's page.

-Grocery Lists.  I like to look back and see what I brought.  It helps to remember when I brought dog food or the furnace filter.  I circle items that the store is out of.  This way I know that item I have to go get before the next bill pay or to add it to the next bill pay.  

-A breakdown of all items that are auto-pay or yearly items like AMC membership, Prime, Norton, etc.  I need to add inspections and registrations for our vehicles.

-When the dogs need their vaccines.  This is also in my datebook.

I am on notebook #3.  With the first notebook, I wrote a lot more down in it.  Like what appointments to make, what gift to buy for someone's birthday, bank withdraws.  Notebook #2 I still did the bank withdraws, but not the lists for items.  With all 3 notebooks, I did the bill pays for each bill pay and the grocery list.  In notebook #3, I added the monthly break down of all of the bills and their due dates.

The lists are now in my planner on the weekly pages.  My planner stays open to the week that we are in.  My meal planning is in another notebook that has the grocery list and meal planning.  I also have holiday planning and birthday plans in this notebook, too.  I started this notebook in August 2018. 

How do you budget your bills?

Melissa