I I for one Love a good Budget, coupon, deal, sale. There is something so gratifying about not paying full price and having being able to put a cozy little amount in to savings because of it. I have mentioned on here before but I love reading finance books...for fun! I must admit some of this is out of necessity due to the fact that my taste in education was pricy...to say the least. Private schools sure do give you "privacy" but they for sure do not give you a discount. Since I have the equivalent of a brand spankin new car in student loans (my student loan car is fully loaded, leather interior, amazing sound system and all wheel drive) it is helpful for Jon and I to make it a point to make my student loan balance sink lower and lower every month. 

I know a lot of people view this task as scary and daunting and to be honest, at times I do too. But if Suze Orman taught me anything it is that facing your debt head on is the quickest way to calm that fear. Sure, you might not always like what you see but you are more motivated and feel more capable to slay the dragon when you know for certain how big it is.

Early in January I sat down with some print outs from pinterest and built a Budget Binder. Now I love me some stationary so part of the thrill of a budget binder was color coding it with my sharpie pens; hey whatever it takes. So now we have a binder that makes all debt, earnings and savings transparent-again, you might not always like what you see but at least you know exactly where you stand. 

 Since I have always been one to be keen on a budget the biggest change was Meal Planning for the whole month. I usually did it week by week-sometimes coming up with new ideas for dinners was annoying...so we'd eat out...and spend ridiculous amounts of money on thai food delivered to our door. And doing stuff like this is easy to discount (not in the good way) but then one day you are looking at your finances and finding that you have spent waaaaay more on spring rolls and curry than you ever thought possible. So like I said, meal planning for the whole month makes this a whole lot less likely to happen...I think...we'll see. I'll keep you posted!

What tips help you stay on budget?