About eight years ago, I felt strongly that I needed to get our finances in order. I felt like I needed to make a plan to get out of debt and to really know where our money was being spent each month.
That led me to find Dave Ramsey and his website and app EveryDollar . This literally changed our family. It helped me face the reality of what we could spend each month, helped me make a plan to pay off debt, and helped me plan and save for the future.
This planning for the future was a huge blessing when 6 years ago(about 18 months after starting this budget), my husband walked into the kitchen, home early from work, and said that his boss had let him go after 14 years of working there. They were hiring someone cheaper. We had a 6 week old baby plus 5 other kids at that time. I was also a stay at home mom.
In a matter of hours, I was able to easily use this app to quickly see how long we could live on our savings before it would run out. It helped us not to panic. It helped us to be able to tell our extended family and church what help we did need. It was a huge blessing.
I share this because gluten free foods are EXPENSIVE. It is a shock to the budget. You have to be able to shift things around to still stick to your budget. The every dollar app helps you budget every penny. It helps you tell your money what to do, not the other way around.
This is not a sponsored post. I just really love this app. I am sure there are other apps that are great at budgeting too. This is just the one that works for my brain.
It takes work to budget. It takes time. But it also gives me peace of mind. When unexpected expenses come up, I am able to pull up my app, see where I have not spent all the money in a certain category, and then shift it around.
I know that as this economy continues to be somewhat unstable, you can find tools that can help ease your mind, help you be prepared for the future, and help you afford to feed your family.
Maybe the answer is that you do need more income. That is something that we have decided in the last few years was one of our answers. This became a blessing to our budget when our kids were diagnosed. We had the extra income to compensate for the new grocery bill. Now that it has been over 18 months, we have been able to spend less than in our initial months. We continue to find ways to decrease our grocery bill, even when eggs are $7. You can buy in bulk, buy on Amazon, join a co-op like the Food & Meat Co-op in Utah, learn how to make more things yourself, and much more.
Listen to your heart. We can all be guided to know how to take care of our family and prepare for the future too.
Much love,
Emma
