My husband bought me this t-shirt that says “I got the skills to pay the bills” last night. I saw it and and almost died laughing. I love it and can’t wait to start wearing it. But I have to wait until I get out of maternity clothes. Man, I hate maternity clothes. I swear, as soon as this baby is born, my skinny jeans are going back up on the wall to keep me motivated to get slim again asap.

Anyway, back to my skills. Well, at least I think I have skills. I am not a professional. I didn’t get a degree in finance or accounting. I just know that if you plan well and exercise a little self control you will have financial freedom. It’s when you don’t plan and impulse buy and think you have more money that you actually do that money problems and burdens come your way.

I know it sounds ironic. The words budget, self control, planning would make you think that you are limiting yourself. But it’s quite the opposite. Because we do all these things we have never been in a bind, out of money, or in any debt we couldn’t pay off. Even when unexpected emergencies have come up, we have always been able to pool something together to get though. We really have been able to live quite freely with no dark clouds hanging over us. It’s not only financial freedom but peace of mind freedom.

Let me let you in on a few of my personal favorite budgeting tips:

1. We have separate accounts, but can still access or see eachothers main accounts. So, there is still some independence for both of us, but no real secrets either. Here’s how it works. When my husband gets paid he transfers X amount of dollars into my account while he keeps X amount for himself. He is responsible for his own personal expenses and then plays with whatever he has left over. I am responsible for the family expenses and then play with whatever I have left over. What determines the X value for both of us is what we both will have left over after we both pay our obligatory bills. This way we have about the same amount of money to play with in the end.

2. Personalize your budget by using a simple template or make up your own in Excel. Everyone is different so don’t try to set your budget standards to someone elses. I made up my own using Excel. It’s very simple and easy.

3. Plan a year out. I not only budget monthly, but I have it set up monthly though the end of 2008. This way you can plan for things that come up annually like homeowners insurance, car registration, property taxes, birthdays, Christmas, etc.

4. Probably my favorite…since I budget monthly and make sure I don’t overspend, whatever I have left over at the end of the month is rolled over into a separate savings account. So, in addition to what I am already saving, I will have that much extra. I try to stay about $100 under so my goal is to have $1200 by the end of the year for whatever I want.

Those are just a few tips. The point is to free up as much of your money coming in instead of already having it spent with obligatory bills and payments.

In my last blog I mentioned how I feel like I have to run my household like a business. Let me explain. I didn’t mean for that to sound like I am a nazi with our money or anything. I think I am quite flexible with it. I just meant that, like a business, our goal is to make our money grow and if we prioritize and work hard and spend wisely, like a businss, our future will be successful. That’s all I meant.

I will share more later…