Just the other day during dinner, my husband brought up the idea of coming up with a weekly/monthly budget so we can determine how much money we need to set aside for our future home, for healthcare after retirement, etc. I almost choked on my pasta amatriciana.
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Don't get me wrong here, I am all for my husband's plan. In fact, I think it is a great idea! But the thing is, I have zero budgeting skills. My idea of budgeting is shopping only when there is a sale. It may sound ridiculous to others, but you can't imagine how much money you get to save when you buy things at 50% off! And I always believe that you save more when you buy in bulk. That's why when I see something that I really like, I buy duplicates.
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My first attempt at budgeting was after we got married last year. I bought a notebook where I can log all our household expenses. I was proud at how organized I was; it had different sections for grocery checklists complete with tick boxes, weekly menus, actual expenses -- I even kept all the receipts for reference! Then I noticed that our expenses just got bigger each month. Sure I was logging in everything but that was it. I just wrote them down but I never bothered to cut down on anything. It was pointless! So I decided to scrap the notebook idea. In other words, I failed miserably.
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From then on, I told my husband to take charge of saving our money and leave all the spending to me. Haha! I'm a Marketing Management graduate and the only way I can apply my marketing skills as a housewife is via shopping. If I buy their product, that means their scheme worked!
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Richard proposed to give me a certain budget to work with for our weekly expenses (gulp!). It should cover daily expenses like groceries, manicure, pedicure, taxi rides, etc. I have to curb my shopping expenses if I want to include a massage in the budget. Since my husband has never complained about my shopping (thankfully!), and because I'm saving up for a new digital slr camera, I am more than willing to comply with Richard's proposal in my own little way. For example, I will try to limit buying shoes to one pair a month only (except when there is a special occasion because I already bought two pairs last week and I'm planning to buy another one as a mother's day gift for myself this week. Hehe!) A small sacrifice if I want to have money to build a shoe closet in our future home, right?
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Another one would be to skip dessert. A slice of cake at Secret Recipe costs Thb95 so i get to save at least Thb200 in a week plus it will help me lose weight! Another small sacrifice if I really want to have that dream kitchen complete with a red Artisan KitchenAid and Calphalon copper pans.
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I think I can do this. Budgeting doesn't sound so scary after all. The trick is to make small sacrifices now and reap bigger benefits in the future. Who knows, if I do a really good job at this, my husband just might buy me with a nice gift as a reward.
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