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Jordan Page of “Fun Cheap or Free” Shares 7 Secrets to Budgeting and Planning

Jordan Page shares her love for budgeting and why it can be fulfilling

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Budgeting: There’s a good chance that word makes you want to crawl into a hole and forget you ever heard it. Lucky for us, Jordan Page has completely revived the way we view budgeting after she stopped by The MomForce podcast to tackle every nitty gritty detail of financial planning. Nothing is quite as overwhelming as an empty spreadsheet with big numbers that I know aren't going anywhere, but Page breaks it down with 7 expert tips that’ll help you get your budget in order. Get out your pad and pencil, and be prepared to take some life-changing notes!

Budget with a purpose.

You need to find the reason for why you have a budget. Go on a date with your spouse and talk about your life. What financial goals do you have? Where do you want to be in 20 or 30 years? Budgeting “just because” won't give you results. Choosing to do it because you can save up for the new car you want or so that you can redo the kitchen gives you purpose. GIve yourself a “why”.

Divide and conquer.

You don't need to see eye-to-eye on finances with your spouse. The world has an expectation that when you're married, you should have finances figured out. In reality, it takes a lot of work and choosing to divide and conquer. Fill in each other's financial blind spots so that you can make a solid team together. 

Spend 70% or less of your take-home pay.

As a general rule, you should only use 70% of your income for food, gas, groceries, rent, loan payments, electricity, etc. This even includes paying off your loans and debts. The leftover 20% of that excess should go straight to savings and the last 10% should be used proactively — that could be philanthropic or maybe adding it to a future college fund for your kids. 

Open multiple bank accounts.

Creating “mini budgets” is a huge help in making sure that you stick within a budget. Having separate accounts for groceries, gas, clothing and trips makes it so that when you go grocery shopping and you have $20 extra for the week, you can throw it into your road trip budget instead of spending it on a few extra bags of chips.

Spend $100 per family member per month on groceries.

I know what you’re thinking: “There is no way I could do that.” Shopping sales and planning your meals based on what you already have really is the key to grocery shopping on a budget. Use those dry pasta noodles that have been sitting there for 2 years — you won’t regret it!

You can be a spender and a saver.

What’s the point of sticking to a budget if you have no plans to spend your money once you have it? If you don’t reward yourself and spend money along the way, all your money will just sit there. You have to have goals for spending your money to not only motivate starting your budget but also to be consistent. You can easily be a saver and a spender!

Use your resources.

YouTube is your best friend when you are looking to improve your spending habits. There are so many free resources at your fingertips to help you rethink your finances. Don’t just sit and wait to make more money — use your money effectively and make it work for you! 

For more real-life parenting tips and tricks, check out the MomForce Podcast! Vanessa Quigley, mother of 7 and co-founder of Chatbooks, hosts this refreshing take on all things mom. Along with her 4 sisters, they’ll get into the nitty-gritty of parenting together, bringing in experts to get to the source of your most-Googled "adulting" questions. Check out the#MOMFORCE BY CHATBOOKS FACEBOOK PAGE.

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