Defining "Need to Have"

It is a common complaint to hear that one does not make enough money. In most cases, we have found that it is mostly an issue of a lack of a budget and follow-through. A few years back, we were faced with a sudden change in circumstances which led to me combing through all of our monthly expenses and figuring out what was a “nice-to-have” expense and a “need-to-have”.

The process was well worth it. We found out that we had subscriptions that we no longer needed and that we routinely bought too much food that led to food waste. We quickly switched to planning our menu ahead of time and strategically buying our groceries which also reduced the fuel cost to get to the grocery store.

Another quirky saving tool I have been using is ordering groceries online. When I visit the grocery stores, I often add too man “nice-to-have” items that make our monthly grocery bill bloat.

There are many budget apps out there, but the one that we have found made the best sense to us was Mint (https://mint.intuit.com/). It is a free product supported by Intuit (makers of Quickbooks). The app allows you to build a monthly budget and it will send you emails if one of your budget categories has exceeded its capacity.

The app works by linking your bank, credit and investment accounts. For the most part, it is pretty automatic. The app also creates fun graphs for you to understand where your money goes every month. It is a great way for you (and your spouse) to build a collaborative successful financial plan.

​After all, take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves...