I agree with you on the sinking funds. I use YNAB and the creator of ynab has a podcast and recently did a podcast on how a lot of people that use sinking funds find that they don't need as large of an emergency fund because most of the things that come up that people use an emergency fund for are already covered with sinking funds and specified categories.
I bought so many of the color street strips. A little tip. Use Seche Vite base coat to eliminate shrinking and a gel coat top coat if you want to make it last longer without chipping. I use the same brands for both. 🥰
Your nails look fabulous! If and when I’m ready to give up my nail polish, I will check out your relative’s product. As you know, I’ve been using your system for a number of months and it is really helping. However, watching this video showed me something I’ve been doing wrong. It hasn’t cost me anything but time. Now I can tweak my November budget process to more closely follow your own process and save myself some time. Having control over my money and knowing where every cent is going is a great stress reliever. I can’t say thanks enough!
Love the color strips. My aunt and friend started selling them this year too. I bought all the cute Halloween ones for my niece and I. Great video as always.
I used our Tech sinking fund today to pay for a chromebook. My husband’s old laptop sounds very bad and may die on us soon. Because he is working from home he needs it. Love having sinking funds!
Hi Sara, I enjoy watching your videos. I write down my monthly bills but I have trouble sticking to a monthly budget. I’m more of a paycheck to paycheck budgeter since that’s how I basically live. Do you have a set up for paycheck to paycheck budgeting? Also how do you stay motived to not dip into your sinking funds? It’s a challenge I struggle with - mostly because I don’t have a cushion of funds available. I’m sorry for the overload. Great channel!
Hey! Right now I have budget kits available and add on script stickers that say paycheck 1, paycheck 2, etc. Many people who do paycheck budgeting use that setup for theirs! I think budgeting, like most things, takes practice. It doesn’t come easily to most. When there’s something that I didn’t budget for that we want to purchase, I try to remind myself of our financial goals and if it’s worth it to not accomplish them because of whatever we’re wanting to do. Most of the time, the answer is no. So we don’t buy / do it. I terms of sinking funds, abusing those would honestly hurt us more than anything. We set them up because we knew at some point those things would come due or we would need to pay for them. If we take money out for something else, it would just mean we wouldn’t have enough in the future and I don’t like that either! For me, it’s a mind set. I don’t want to be normal. I don’t want to worry about money like my family did all their lives. So sticking to a budget gets us one step closer to being financially stable and knowing that we won’t have to worry about paying our bills. I know that’s a super long explanation but hopefully it helped!
How did you get to the point where you had extra money for sinking funds? I don’t have much money left over after all my bills and I have at least 2 things I need to save for in a year but I can’t seem to get to that point.
Great question! So there are two ways you can get extra money to fund sinking funds. First and more easy of the two is to cut expenses that you currently have but don’t absolutely need. So that could be eating out, cable, things like that. You could also try to increase your income. That’s what we did but it’s honestly harder and typically takes time to do. I started my TH-cam channel and Etsy shop as my side hustle to make more money. You could do this by picking up a part time job or selling items around your home that you’re not currently using. Hope that’s helpful!
If you have a cash envelope for say groceries, use any of the money left over at the end of the week or month to go into sinking funds. Hope that helps
Great video 🎄hello I’m a new sub an came across your video! This is a great video where did you get the “key sticker bookmark” I really like how you have it color coordinated, went to your Etsy to get the stickers but can’t find the small key sticker you made? Can you help me find it? Thank you 😊
I have the 8.5x11" EC monthly planner for 2022. I would like to start tracking expenses now so by January my journal will be perfect! I'm looking at your expense sticker sheets. I think I need to get the 8.5x11" ones. Can you or someone tell me if that is correct? Thank you.
Hi I also budget I have been budgeting for about a year and I put money aside each month for Christmas and the way things are going i will be left with money left over(not spent ) I didn’t know if I should just keep that money for Christmas and roll it over to next Christmas or put it to other stuff ? I can’t make up my mind so I wanted to see i What everyone else does ? (I don’t have as many sinking funds as you )
Oh, for tracking expenses; do you count in the numbers any money you use at a fast food place that was paid for using a gift card ? Since I wouldn’t have gone there if i didn’t have the gift card...just trying to clarify what to log.
That’s a great question! If the gift card is a gift that I receive from someone else then no. I don’t count gift cards received as income so I don’t track them as expenses either!
Hi Sara Marie. I have a silly question... how do you know your starting numbers for someone that is starting from Zero. Like how do I know how much I want to us. I know there’s math involved lol but I can’t seem to come up with the equation.
Hey! The month before I officially started budgeting, I tracked what we were sending on each category. Then when I sat down to create my budget the following month, I had a realistic idea of where to start. Some of our numbers needed to be lowered (from the tracking month) so you also just had to think about how much you want to save / put toward your financial goals. Hope that helps!
Hi Sara Marie, my biggest problem is tracking expenses, if I assign a category say like household, do I really need to track each and every expense or just note that say if I put 40.00 in that envelope then that is what I spend?
Hey! So if you’re using cash, I would just put the cash in the envelope and when it’s gone, it’s gone. I wouldn’t send any more. In that case, there’s no need to keep receipts or track expenses. Just put that you spent $40 on whatever category and be done.
Budgeting sounds easy enough when you know your income; but being in the pandemic of 2020; we’ve been on unemployment since our companies were shut down due to the virus; now that is ending; and no clue where the next “paycheck” is coming from since we still can’t open our businesses...any suggestions ? We do have some money we can tap into that was part of retirement, is that the best option to stay afloat until the businesses can reopen ?
I just "found" you. Great videos! So one question (a bit difficult in English, but I will do my best) I often have a hard time with my monthly budget. (Because I USED to do zero based budgets it's difficult to let go of the idea that all the expenses should be EXACTLY the samme as the income). Let's assume you have a huge party one month. It costs 800 USD, and you have already saved these money in a sinking fund. Should this expense - the party - appear on your montly? In my mind it makes sense to show that there will be this huge expense. At the same time it will be confusing if it seems like that month's income has to pay for it. I really hope it makes sense! :) Lots of virtual hugs from Denmark
Great question! I personally wouldn’t include the party as part of my budget. A couple reasons: 1) if you have the money in your sinking funds, that means you already have the money saved 2) recording it in your budget would be “double counting” because when you initially funded the sinking funds you would have included that in your budget Hopefully that makes sense! If you check out some of my other budgeting videos, you’ll see I keep a transaction log for all our sinking fund transactions. In this case, you would record the party there and could refer back to it
@@SaraMarie Makes sense! You are right, if I budget for it in sinking funds AND later on it will be "double counting". I might need to check up on your Sinking funds-videos because it keeps confusing me :D Sinking funds are basically "delayed spending" in my mind. My confusion happens when the year is over. When I am about to make status of the year (e.g. "Where did my money go?") I want the money for the party to appear on the status as "spending" because it is not bills, debt or savings nor sinking funds (anymore). It HAS BEEN spent. Is seems like there is a sort of missing link in my head :) .
Hi there! I stumbled across this video. Thank you for explaining your process. I was curious in your process for how you track spending: what does tracking on your monthly overview do for you in comparison of a checkbook register? Thank you! I just subscribed!😁
I’ve been doing the same process of hers for a year now and it’s for people that need something more visual. The color coding helps figure out trends, like what you spend most on, what to cut cost on, or one day you just blew it all on everything the more labels you put on, it’s almost overwhelming and it helps to let me know to calm it down and that I’m not doing well at all! It makes weekly expense tracking a lot easier too vs searching all through a check register or the spending tracker. Since it’s color coded it makes it super easy to find a transaction to track, especially if you don’t do all cash.
I still remember when I first started budgeting. I very quickly became addicted to saving more and more.
I agree with you on the sinking funds. I use YNAB and the creator of ynab has a podcast and recently did a podcast on how a lot of people that use sinking funds find that they don't need as large of an emergency fund because most of the things that come up that people use an emergency fund for are already covered with sinking funds and specified categories.
I bought so many of the color street strips. A little tip. Use Seche Vite base coat to eliminate shrinking and a gel coat top coat if you want to make it last longer without chipping. I use the same brands for both. 🥰
Your nails look fabulous! If and when I’m ready to give up my nail polish, I will check out your relative’s product.
As you know, I’ve been using your system for a number of months and it is really helping. However, watching this video showed me something I’ve been doing wrong. It hasn’t cost me anything but time. Now I can tweak my November budget process to more closely follow your own process and save myself some time. Having control over my money and knowing where every cent is going is a great stress reliever. I can’t say thanks enough!
I use and sell Color Street and love it!
my all time favorite color street is gaza sands. I am 73 yr old and I can do without a mess. so easy to & thank you for this 101 budget
I could not agree more tracking and check ins is where you need to start!
Love the color strips. My aunt and friend started selling them this year too. I bought all the cute Halloween ones for my niece and I. Great video as always.
First time subscriber
I used our Tech sinking fund today to pay for a chromebook. My husband’s old laptop sounds very bad and may die on us soon. Because he is working from home he needs it. Love having sinking funds!
I just found your channel, listened then subscribed. Great advice, thank you. December 2021. Merry Christmas.
Hi Sara, I enjoy watching your videos. I write down my monthly bills but I have trouble sticking to a monthly budget. I’m more of a paycheck to paycheck budgeter since that’s how I basically live. Do you have a set up for paycheck to paycheck budgeting? Also how do you stay motived to not dip into your sinking funds? It’s a challenge I struggle with - mostly because I don’t have a cushion of funds available. I’m sorry for the overload. Great channel!
Hey! Right now I have budget kits available and add on script stickers that say paycheck 1, paycheck 2, etc. Many people who do paycheck budgeting use that setup for theirs!
I think budgeting, like most things, takes practice. It doesn’t come easily to most. When there’s something that I didn’t budget for that we want to purchase, I try to remind myself of our financial goals and if it’s worth it to not accomplish them because of whatever we’re wanting to do. Most of the time, the answer is no. So we don’t buy / do it.
I terms of sinking funds, abusing those would honestly hurt us more than anything. We set them up because we knew at some point those things would come due or we would need to pay for them. If we take money out for something else, it would just mean we wouldn’t have enough in the future and I don’t like that either!
For me, it’s a mind set. I don’t want to be normal. I don’t want to worry about money like my family did all their lives. So sticking to a budget gets us one step closer to being financially stable and knowing that we won’t have to worry about paying our bills.
I know that’s a super long explanation but hopefully it helped!
Thanks for doing this video! super helpful!
How did you get to the point where you had extra money for sinking funds? I don’t have much money left over after all my bills and I have at least 2 things I need to save for in a year but I can’t seem to get to that point.
Great question! So there are two ways you can get extra money to fund sinking funds.
First and more easy of the two is to cut expenses that you currently have but don’t absolutely need. So that could be eating out, cable, things like that.
You could also try to increase your income. That’s what we did but it’s honestly harder and typically takes time to do. I started my TH-cam channel and Etsy shop as my side hustle to make more money. You could do this by picking up a part time job or selling items around your home that you’re not currently using.
Hope that’s helpful!
If you have a cash envelope for say groceries, use any of the money left over at the end of the week or month to go into sinking funds. Hope that helps
Great video 🎄hello I’m a new sub an came across your video! This is a great video where did you get the “key sticker bookmark” I really like how you have it color coordinated, went to your Etsy to get the stickers but can’t find the small key sticker you made? Can you help me find it? Thank you 😊
Thanks so very much for this video. New subscriber. Just found your channel. This has really inspired me, thank you 🙏. Jan, England 😀
Aww I was so happy when I saw this notification come across my phone!!!
I have the 8.5x11" EC monthly planner for 2022. I would like to start tracking expenses now so by January my journal will be perfect! I'm looking at your expense sticker sheets. I think I need to get the 8.5x11" ones. Can you or someone tell me if that is correct? Thank you.
The 8.5x11 expense tracking stickers should work! Message me on Etsy if you want measurements!
Thank you for the video!
Hi I also budget I have been budgeting for about a year and I put money aside each month for Christmas and the way things are going i will be left with money left over(not spent ) I didn’t know if I should just keep that money for Christmas and roll it over to next Christmas or put it to other stuff ? I can’t make up my mind so I wanted to see i
What everyone else does ? (I don’t have as many sinking funds as you )
I set mine up as a sinking fund so anything remaining rolls over!
do you track from the 1st of the month to the last day of the month?
omgosh, I am just getting started because my husband retires this year. This seems so overwhelming.
Oh, for tracking expenses; do you count in the numbers any money you use at a fast food place that was paid for using a gift card ? Since I wouldn’t have gone there if i didn’t have the gift card...just trying to clarify what to log.
That’s a great question! If the gift card is a gift that I receive from someone else then no. I don’t count gift cards received as income so I don’t track them as expenses either!
Ok, I'm hooked. Subscribed!
Are you using an EC monthly book?
Tokyo Lights is my favorite Color Street.
thank you for sharing :) new subbie and fellow budgeter , your nails are so cute!!
Hi Sara Marie. I have a silly question... how do you know your starting numbers for someone that is starting from Zero. Like how do I know how much I want to us. I know there’s math involved lol but I can’t seem to come up with the equation.
Hey! The month before I officially started budgeting, I tracked what we were sending on each category. Then when I sat down to create my budget the following month, I had a realistic idea of where to start.
Some of our numbers needed to be lowered (from the tracking month) so you also just had to think about how much you want to save / put toward your financial goals.
Hope that helps!
Thank you!
Can you do a more in depth video of how you track sinking funds in 1 account? This is the our biggest hurdle right now
Hi Sara Marie, my biggest problem is tracking expenses, if I assign a category say like household, do I really need to track each and every expense or just note that say if I put 40.00 in that envelope then that is what I spend?
Hey! So if you’re using cash, I would just put the cash in the envelope and when it’s gone, it’s gone. I wouldn’t send any more. In that case, there’s no need to keep receipts or track expenses. Just put that you spent $40 on whatever category and be done.
Budgeting sounds easy enough when you know your income; but being in the pandemic of 2020; we’ve been on unemployment since our companies were shut down due to the virus; now that is ending; and no clue where the next “paycheck” is coming from since we still can’t open our businesses...any suggestions ? We do have some money we can tap into that was part of retirement, is that the best option to stay afloat until the businesses can reopen ?
I can’t get the color street to stick.
I just "found" you. Great videos!
So one question (a bit difficult in English, but I will do my best) I often have a hard time with my monthly budget. (Because I USED to do zero based budgets it's difficult to let go of the idea that all the expenses should be EXACTLY the samme as the income). Let's assume you have a huge party one month. It costs 800 USD, and you have already saved these money in a sinking fund. Should this expense - the party - appear on your montly? In my mind it makes sense to show that there will be this huge expense. At the same time it will be confusing if it seems like that month's income has to pay for it. I really hope it makes sense! :) Lots of virtual hugs from Denmark
Great question! I personally wouldn’t include the party as part of my budget. A couple reasons: 1) if you have the money in your sinking funds, that means you already have the money saved 2) recording it in your budget would be “double counting” because when you initially funded the sinking funds you would have included that in your budget
Hopefully that makes sense! If you check out some of my other budgeting videos, you’ll see I keep a transaction log for all our sinking fund transactions. In this case, you would record the party there and could refer back to it
@@SaraMarie Makes sense! You are right, if I budget for it in sinking funds AND later on it will be "double counting". I might need to check up on your Sinking funds-videos because it keeps confusing me :D
Sinking funds are basically "delayed spending" in my mind. My confusion happens when the year is over. When I am about to make status of the year (e.g. "Where did my money go?") I want the money for the party to appear on the status as "spending" because it is not bills, debt or savings nor sinking funds (anymore). It HAS BEEN spent.
Is seems like there is a sort of missing link in my head :)
.
How can I do my budget
I'm enjoying watching your videos and witnessing your growth. 🙌🏽
I can't wait to splurge on your stickers. ☺️
Hi there! I stumbled across this video. Thank you for explaining your process. I was curious in your process for how you track spending: what does tracking on your monthly overview do for you in comparison of a checkbook register? Thank you! I just subscribed!😁
I’ve been doing the same process of hers for a year now and it’s for people that need something more visual. The color coding helps figure out trends, like what you spend most on, what to cut cost on, or one day you just blew it all on everything the more labels you put on, it’s almost overwhelming and it helps to let me know to calm it down and that I’m not doing well at all! It makes weekly expense tracking a lot easier too vs searching all through a check register or the spending tracker. Since it’s color coded it makes it super easy to find a transaction to track, especially if you don’t do all cash.