So, you always hear that you need a budget to be effective, right? You need to track your money to get control of it so you can plan to spend it the best way so that it doesn't end up just leaving you going to many unknown places.
This is the section where I want to focus on doing a budget update once a month to show you how I'm doing and how I'm growing. I think that showing people that it can be done on a normal income is a huge motivator and will hopefully encourage others to start their own financial journey.
We follow a simple program for money management that includes 7 Baby Steps. Here they are:
Updated 8/30/16: Currently, we are working on Baby Step 3: Saving 3-6 Months of Expenses In Savings again. We actually have 96.5% of this funded at this time. It takes some time to get the money together, but we are working hard and should be able to complete this in a couple months!
We have been following these Baby Steps since May 24, 2011 and have seen great success. Our net worth has gone from actually being negative to growing more and more positive each month.
I am basically looking to list out our income and our main expenses. I am also going to update with our Net Worth report and will show how we grow it every month. I think that by doing this it will hold me accountable and will show how it's grown in real time.
Past Monthly Net Worth Updates
March 2019 Net Worth Update – $155,092.82 (-$5,640.89)
March is the first time in 6 months that I’ve updated our net worth. Check out what we’ve been up to and how we’ve grown our money.
September 2018 Net Worth Update – $160,733.71 (+$21,286.78)
September was a stellar month with a very big gain for us overall. Check out how we did it inside!
August 2018 Net Worth Update – $139,446.93 (+$3,690.43)
Another big up month this month, led mainly by our investments. But, in reality, our growth is driven by continuing to live on less than we make and saving and giving the rest.
July 2018 Net Worth Update – $135,756.50 (+$1,338.43)
July was another up month, even though our emergency fund got creamed. Find out all about it here.
June 2018 Net Worth Update – $134,418.07 (+$1,089.72)
For June, we saw a mixed bag in our investments. Our emergency fund grew and we were positive for the month, reaching a new high on our net worth journey!
May 2018 Net Worth Update – $133,328.35 (+$2,918.21)
May is in the books! Investments grew, the mortgage got knocked down a little more, and we survived another month! Get the details here.
April 2018 Net Worth Update – $130,410.14 (+$4,463.27)
April was a great month for us. House value was up, markets were up and another mortgage payment edged us over $130k for the first time!
March 2018 Net Worth Update – $125,946.87 (+$167.62)
Markets have another downward month. We run into a few emergency fund purchases. Our net worth eeks out a small gain. Find out all about in our March 2018 net worth update and weigh in about how your month went financially.
February 2018 – $125,779.25 – Net Worth Update (-$2,566.07)
Markets correct, values of assets drop, February numbers are in! We have the biggest drop in our net worth since April 2017. How do you cope with this kind of downturn? Find out my thoughts on this past month’s numbers here in our February 2018 net worth update.
January 2018 – $128,345.32 – Net Worth Update (-$747.59)
January was a mixed bag for us. Our numbers were down but our investments were way up. Check out the full report to learn more about our month.
December 2017 – $129,092.91 – Net Worth Update (+$9,171.86)
I recap the last 2 months of our net worth journey and put a cap on 2017 to get ready for 2018!
October 2017 – $119,921.05 – Net Worth Update (+$369.16)
Well, we were able to move the line up just a tad more again in October! Check out how the month went down below!
Are you ready to finally take control of your finances? Let my budgeting spreadsheets help!
Just fill out the form below and I'll send you the link to get the same exact budgeting spreadsheets that I use each month!
Included in the workbook:
- Monthly budget form
- Breakdown of savings form (for your sinking funds)
- Overview of your financial plan
I've been using these same forms since August 2011 and have grown my family's net worth 500% tracking our money using these forms!
I love this ‘accountability’ testimony for other families to watch.
Thanks! Yes, I need to get back to updating it more frequently. But, it is nice to track and show that I’m “walking the walk”.
I LOVE the graph. How great that you have data from the past 8 years! Seeing your progress motivates me… I want us to have a similar trend.
Thanks! Yeah it’s awesome although I wish I had journaled my way through us getting out of debt while we were doing it so I could have captured the emotions we went through! Since we became debt free (other than the house) in 2013, it’s hard to go back to how it felt at that time other than knowing it wasn’t as free as now and that I don’t want to go back!