A recent post on Bargaineering.com inspired me to make a cash flow chart of how my finances work so that I can see where my money is going in a picture. I left amounts out, but would like to share the map with you all.
A bit of explanation is required to navigate our flowchart. Workplace is where my funds are generated and thus it all starts there. They take care of my IRA and Health Insurance and then give me a paycheck (thank you!) But taxes are removed from there. After that I deposit my check into our Credit Union Checking Account. From there it goes four places
1. We support children through worldvision and the funds are automatically withdrawn.
2. I setup on our billpay site at the beginning of each month to pay all of our utilities and debts on the dates that they are due.
3. Our ING Direct account withdraws 5 withdraws each week.
a. Emergency Fund: for emergencies only!
b. Expense Account: We added up all the big bills (propane, car repair, house repair, medical, car registration etc...) we pay each year and divided by 52, that number is withdrawn each week.
c. Gifts/Giving: We added up Christmas, birthdays, vacation, outings, and what we would like to give away to people who need help and divided by 52. That number is withdrawn each week.
d. Tithe: self explanatory
e. 10 year trip: Kara and I are going on a missions trip for our 10 year anniversary. We took the price of the trip, the weeks left to the date, and divided to get a number and have that tiny amount withdrawn each week.
4. Weekly Expenses:
a. Our gasoline, food/supplies, are either left in our account (with a concrete number ascribed to them) or is withdrawn in cash each week. When the number is reached, or the cash is gone, we are done spending.
b. Flex Bucks: we have a few dollars left in our account each week to allow for flexibility and unforeseen expenses. This is the key to having a working budget, flexibility. If it cannot bend, it breaks.
You may be thinking, wow, he must make a fortune to have finances work so well. I don't. We are on one income that is about as much as a low end manager at McDonalds. I found that the key is to SAVE money, GIVE money, and PAY bills first thing, then see how much you can spend on yourself. Live under what you make and you can make any budget work. Give every dollar a place to go and a job to do, and you won't overspend.
That is what we are doing, and it is working. Love to hear any thoughts.
1 comment:
I love this flow chart. Amy and I started doing the whole envelope system and you are absolutely right that it is liberating. The hardest part for us is that (not making excuses) we grew up and are growing up in a culture that has to have everything right now and we try justifying it by saying that we NEED it. If you are an excel guru, like me, I have the perfect budget spreadsheet for you, it automatically makes pie graphs and such. Another good place for a cool budget tool is mint.com, it works the best if you use your debit card a lot to pay for things as opposed to cash. Anyway, I think it is cool.
On another note, we found a great church that is about 5-10 minutes a way. It is called LifeChurch in Canton. It is an old warehouse that was converted into a church, apparently before that they were jumping around from school to school. We found another one that is in downtown Plymouth that we like it is just a little older crowd called Solid Rock. I think that is the one you were talking about.
Anyway this flow chart is sweet
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