Tuesday Sundries - 'Budget By Paycheck' Workbook Has Arrived!

I had grand plans to come home from work on Monday and finish up this post. Alas, it was an eleven hour day of work with no breaks or lunch. Straight shopping groceries for other people! I hobbled home and climbed into the tub for a bit and hit the bed.

The problem is, I have to cut 3 hours off my schedule this week. So hopefully, it will be a short day today.

Anyway...

On Saturday my Budget By Paycheck workbook arrived from The Budget Mom. 

I have been using a semi-mockup of her workbook for the past month and a half and like it a lot. Budgeting by paycheck makes so much sense for me. Mainly because until I can get to a place where I have some savings so I am not living paycheck-to-paycheck, I can't budget by the month like most budget systems have you do.

I have my months set up with the paydays and reminders to 'review' my finances before the payday so I know exactly what I am paying each paycheck.  

The workbook starts out with some 'thinking' about where you want to go and a list of monthly subscriptions.

Then a yearly savings sheet set-up. 

Each month in the workbook starts out with a month-at-a-glance page.

While I haven't finished going through the videos which break down the workbook/budget planner, on the monthly calendar you not only note your paydays but also what bills are due when. 

Right off the bat, I would have liked this calendar to be over two pages just to give myself more room on each day to write. While I haven't written down the bills due on my current monthly calendar, I will do it on this one. I have also seen where it is marked which paycheck covers what days, usually with a highlighter. 

Then comes the 'meat' of the workbook. 

There are five paycheck sheets, so basically one for each week of the month. This is great if you are paid weekly. I have my pension, two paychecks and my Social Security (yes, I am taking it early) to account for each month starting in November, so I need at least four of these layouts monthly.

One thing I do have to address again is my 'Master List' of debt/bills. While I have pulled it together somewhat, I need to firm it up and I also want to add the interest rate on these debts (where it exists) so I know which ones to pay off first.

Then comes the expense tracker sheets. There are four pages of this tracker for the month. 

I have been doing something similar already over the past few months. I have been tracking my spending, but not really breaking it down by category like this. And since I will be going with cash envelopes, I need to keep track of where the money goes better.

Then comes something I haven't done in the past and am actually excited about - having a debt payment plan! Having already gotten rid of a couple of small debts and looking more realistically at my finances, this is really important to me.

Next is the Net Worth Tracker! I can't wait to watch my assets grow and my liabilities drop.

After the above two sheets, comes a 'discussion' of where did that money actually go. I am so looking forward to seeing my percentage of income to debt decrease and my income saved increase.

Then comes the month-to-month comparison so I can see in numbers how things are going.

The month ends with cash envelope sheets to cut out and use. 

I also got pretty cash envelopes to use.

And some of her stickers to use.

I am not actually going to use many of the stickers in my actual workbook. Maybe on the monthly calendar. These stickers, along with the Happy Planner stickers I bought at Michaels (yay 40% off coupons) in my planner to keep me focused daily and weekly on my financial goals.

I have it already scheduled in my planner in December to sit down and set up January in my new workbook. 

Right now, other than a larger monthly calendar, I would have liked to have seen a folder pocket to hold actual paper bills or other paperwork I need for the month. But I'll deal and maybe make a pocket on the inside of the front cover.

So excited about my new budget planner and going forward into 2020. 

But for now, it's off to work!