[USER]

How do you determine what you can afford? We have a budget, I know where the money is going. No consumer debt.

We don’t do anything extravagant. And the budget is tight. But when it comes to our children’s needs, food, and day-to-day life stuff, we just make it happen.

It might mean be floating a credit card until payday.

For you, what makes you say, we can’t afford this? (Not talking about vacations, clothes or anything extra.)

[Johnson]

Food would be in the budget
Groceries is one line
Eating out would be another
Pack your lunches & snacks to save

If you can’t pay cash
You can’t afford it
Credit cards are out

You have a mortgage
And retirement savings
An emergency fund
College funds

Look at how much you’re spending on the kids stuff
200
500
800
1000

A month
What is it
Can you
Should you

Cut it down somehow
If you are feeling uneasy what’s going wrong?

[Jamie]

I look at time rather than money. It costs 4 hours of time to buy something. Do I want it enough to justify that? Even for kids, a new video game takes 3 hours of hard work on the part of your parent.

For teens it would be 5 or 6 hours of hard work.

Are they willing to work to earn Teach your children to value your time and their own. Perhaps a game is worth it, but many will not be.

Younger children have little sense of time so you might have to work with them on how many extra chores it would take.

[Yadira]

That’s such a real and tough question, and it sounds like you’re already doing so much to manage your budget wisely.

For me, I look at cash flow; if something would put me in a tight spot or require floating a credit card, I try to adjust somewhere else first.

But when it comes to essentials like food and kids’ needs, sometimes you just have to make it work.

It’s hard finding that balance, but being aware and intentional (like you are!) is already a big step.

[Mary]

when my kids were growing up, their friend’s families were always buying sodas and candy whenever they went to the gas station or whatever. just bored maybe even.

I told my kids no !!!!! no !!! no !!!! we do not do that !!! we also didn’t have expensive vacations and such.

I guess it’s a matter of priorities.

I like being debt free now. the friends families – not in great financial positions now.

[Debbie]

Budget for a monthly amount to go into an Emergency Fund and a monthly amount into Savings that you can use for the things you mentioned.

[Liz]

Unless you have a few thousand in savings I would say you can’t afford it

[Carrie]

Taught this… 1 week pay for rent/ mortgage… then put 10% savings then pay utilities and transportation.. then buy groceries…

whatever left for wants….no credit card balance, ever, if I can’t pay n full each month … don’t need it….

My own advice for myself, live below my means…. no debt don’t buy new unless that is the only option

[Ruth]

When something breaks down or is in need of repair or replacement (car, appliance, plumbing repair) and we have the money to cover it then we cover it.

When a family member (grown adult child) has a need (rent, medical bill, car repair) that is a need.

[Chelsea]

We have a monthly miscellaneous/ surprise budget. If we happen to not use it up that month, it goes into a savings account designated for life’s unexpected expenses that is separate from regular savings.

Like an emergency dr/vet visit, dinner party, decor, home repair, phone replacement, random work or school needs that aren’t usual purchases.

If that account is low we know we can’t afford things.

[Nadine]

I try to work in a zero dollar method where you give each dollar a job and if something can be bought within a given amount per category, we’re good.

If not, and it’s a neccessary buy, I’ll shuffle what I allot in different categories to make it work.

But generally I can stretch what I allot and meet all the needs.
In your case, it looks like you need a category for “those” expenses so you have a budgeted amount for it, instead of seeing them as unexpected or random buys, set an amount for them.

If I was using a credit card between pay cheques for daily purchases it would tell me I need reign in the spending habits tbh.

The kids don’t need clothes and toys every 2 weeks, and groceries are a priority with an allotted limit.

[Denise]

If I can’t pay in cash or debit card I can’t afford it. Period. Floating on a credit card until payday is playing with fire.

[Jackie]

I have a great budget built on reality. I know if I stay within the budget, it all works out. I also know that if I slack off on tracking what was spent (more than a few days), then we tend to overspend.

We just need that monitoring.

Near the end of the month, I take a bead on how much is left in each category, and I tell my husband, we have x amount left in this or that category, and I remind him we don’t want to go over.

That helps us rein it in. Most of the time we end up with unspent amounts in many categories, and that goes into savings.

All that said, if something comes up when we want to overspend in a category, I often enough will charge that item to another category that still has some unspent amount.

It’s just working with reality and keeping ourselves going in the direction we planned.

[Tiffany]

I do cash stuffing so I can only really afford things I plan for in advance. If it’s something that has just come up then I can’t afford it but I can work in into the budget in the next few weeks.

This isn’t for stuff like emergencies or big things because those are already planned and have sinking funds.

If it’s something small like getting a little treat, I do have about $15-20 a week to spend on whatever I want.

Although I tend to save it up over 4-6 weeks to get a larger treat

[Patricia]

For me it’s when I’m shopping (groceries & household needs) and I run out of money before I get all the necessities. Then I earned to switch it up and shop sales!

I buy the basics milk, eggs (not these days bcs they’re not available) etc .. but the other things are sales, I buy meats when on sale (and get hamburger regularly) looking T the store adds to see what I can get on sale.

I buy mostly sales items.

[Melissa]

You are doing a disservice giving the kids all their wants. Talk about needs. Look into buy nothing groups, especially for clothes.

f the kids are old enough talk about budgets. “It’s not in the budget this month. Let’s save for it.” If you are putting on a credit card you should be paying it off each month.

If you are not then it is not in the budget. If you are paying it off then budget it next month and pay cash.

I am all about talking saving, spending and budgetting with my kids.

Make it age appropriate. These are important life lessons.

[Callie]

Is it a need or a want? That’s what I’d ask. A need, you cannot live without it, it’s the only one you might have in your closet.

A want means you have similar things already and/or could go without.

For example, a need is when your child outgrows their only pair of school shoes.

A want is when six pairs still fit but they want the pair with the green stripe.

[Christine]

What kind of vacations are you talking about? What do you consider anything extra?

[Yvette]

Define wants vs. needs. I also teach them about how corporations make money based off people’s emotions, ignorance, helplessness and laziness, which includes marketing tactics.

That companies want to con people out of hard earned dollars as much as possible.

To minimize spending based on one’s needs is to have retain as much power as you can as a consumer within a shark filled market.

So, any form of saving money is a win for yourself and a middle finger to those sharks.

Emotional fulfillment should also come from other forms of activities, not new stuff.

[Jackie]

A very simple “is this want or a need?” Is my mantra. Kids need new shoes when the olds ones don’t fit but they don’t need but want a new toy.

I want a new dress for for church but I don’t need it because there are 4 dresses in my closet I could wear.

It’s quite simple but I do need to keep the mantra in my head.

[Donna]

Every so often I get overwhelmed by prices of something. Today it was frozen turkey necks for $3/lb.

Someone has lost their freaking mind.

[Erin]

Credit cards are fine if you can afford them. The problem with using them as floating money is that you will always be behind in your debts.

Even if you start with $50 per paycheck, you need to make sure you’re saving money every paycheck.

[Julie]

We did a lot of free and cheap stuff with ours. Hiking, tent camping, etc. If they wanted to play a sport, or instrument they knew we had to know in advance and we saved for it.

Once in a while we splurged on movies or something if we had the money.

We saved for a vacation every year but that was camping out of state and seeing the sights wherever we were.

My kids ended up being nature lovers and pretty well traveled on the cheap.

[Author]

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