Where the rubber meets the Road

So you have your plan, now how do you put it into place? For me it was a realization that no matter what plans I had in my head or on paper, the follow through was the toughest step. So here's what I did:

1) I started using cash. In a world where plastic is just as easy as cash to use, using cash may sound like an extra step to complicate things. It is limit setting though. I knew exactly how much money I have for food, gas, or personal items each month and have to think about the cash that is being handed over as I pay for each item. If I buy these things would I have enough  cash left for groceries before the next paycheck? How is my husband going to get to school or me to work if we drive to this event and needed more gas? Using cash helped me to see the limits that needed to be set in order to not overspend  and put more money on credit cards.

2) I started recording my spending. One would think that if I had a set amount of cash for various things I would no longer need to track where my money was going. Not true. It was even more important now that I track where my money was going. It gave me a record to look back on if I did overspend. It let me say, as much as I like this or that, it isn't a necessity so I can't buy it next month. It also helped me to set the amounts needed. It helped me realize that some of the amounts I had set in my budget were unrealistic. I either needed to find more money for a category, or I found that I didn't need as much money toward a category as I had originally set aside.

3) I found websites to help me. There are so many resources on the web, from alligning with you bank and credit card accounts to allowing you to manually enter your information for easier tracking.  My favorite website for this right now is everydollar.com. It is a Dave Ramsey established website which has a free and premium side. I currently use the free side of the website. It allows me to enter amounts into categories along with transactions so there is less math work on my end. I can go in and see how much is left in each category so I can double check my envelope amounts. The premium side of the website connects with various accounts so you can click and drag transactions to categorize them instead of entering them manually. There are other websites that do this such as mint.com. My advice, find one that works for you.

4) I haven't stopped learning. I'm still refining and tweaking my budget. I am constantly on the search for reading material or classes to learn more about money. How to save it, how to make it work for me instead of me working for it. I recently started tracking food prices. My grocery budget has been maxed out and I love finding ways to find even an extra dollar or two in the money allotted. Tracking prices though time consuming has shown me already that I really don't know the cheapest price that I'm able to get products at. Look for a future post on how to start if you are interested.

Any other ways you've found in helping rubber meet the road? Please leave a comment below.