Have you seen the cost of eggs lately!?

In 2006 we were in our early 20s, newly married, having just graduated from college with student loans, a car payment, and with four years of graduate school staring us in the face. I remember the first time we pooled both of our “budgets” together (which, let’s face it, were not actually budgets) and realized that we needed to sell a vehicle. Immediately.

About the same time we read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover and started our own debt snowball complete with cash envelopes and everything.

The concept of delayed gratification, saving for things, not freaking out when egg prices double overnight, and paying cash for monthly expenses has been something that has stuck with us since 2006.

Many years ago we found something that made our budgeting much simpler (and involved fewer paper cuts from cash envelopes). You Need A Budget, or YNAB for short.

YNAB (desktop or app) is similar to the digital version of Dave Ramsey cash envelopes (except you can use emojis for your budget categories and that makes it a little more fun). YNAB gives every dollar a job and the system aims toward the goal of living off of last month’s income. It helps you confidently pay annual bills, save for fun things like Christmas, anticipate emergency situations, and helps you plan ahead for big bills. Basically it takes all of the “roller coaster” out of your budget and evens it out. There are fewer surprises because you are working with real dollars. You are living off of last month’s income, or at least on real, already-received income.

I can’t tell you how many friends and family members we’ve recommended YNAB to. Those who have tried it themselves have raved about getting out of debt, paying cash for vacations, or feeling like they gave themselves a raise. It’s not just us!

You can read all about YNAB and how it works and why so many people love it right here, but I thought I would highlight exactly how YNAB has saved us money over the years, which is something that your family might find useful (especially with the current price of eggs),

Here are some of the ways YNAB has saved us money over the years:

• When we track our money using a budget, we’ve found that it’s like we’ve given ourselves a raise. The simple act of knowing where every single dollar is spent and giving it a purpose has tightened up our budget so that there is always more left over at the end of each month than what needs to be spent to fully fund our budget categories. It can be a fun game even: how many budget categories can I underspend in?

• We’ve impulse spent less. If we didn’t budget for something we first look to see if there is room for a splurge (like eating out). If we need to move money from one budget category to another we can do that, but even then we have to decide on what is more important. Often the impulse goes away by the mere act of reviewing the budget.Sometimes we just wait until next month.

• Vacations, trips, and Christmas are no longer “surprises.” We plan for each and have money saved ahead of time so we can enjoy our family time without overspending and without the guilt that comes with that.

• We’ve reevaluated areas we can spend less (or cut back entirely) when we see how much money we’ve spent at a particular place. Five years ago we cut out Starbucks almost entirely. It was cheaper to just buy our own quality espresso machine.

• YNAB has a really cool suggestion called a “Wish Garden”. Your Wish Garden consists of things that you are saving for that are “extra.” Each month as our budget allows, we can “water” our Wish Garden with money. Our current Wish Garden is saving up for my 40th birthday.

If you’d like to impact your budget in a positive way this year, you can give YNAB a try right here.

More wiggle room in my budget

I remember a time when there was zero wiggle room in our budget, even though both my husband and I worked.

I wasn’t sure how we were going to afford piano lessons for my kids. They didn’t get to go to summer camp. I couldn’t enroll them in sports/dance lessons, etc. We didn’t have room in our budget to fly to visit family. We didn’t have a second car. We didn’t go to Disneyland.

We ran a tight budget, and while we always had enough for the basics, the “extras” were the issue. I wanted to put my kids in sports, spend time traveling to National Parks, and go to Disneyland. I wanted to stay home with my kids full time, and was willing to leverage naptime.

When my friend Kelly told me that I could earn money from YL for each person that used my affiliate link, I was skeptical and not sure if it would work.

The first time that I was paid from Young Living (back in the days of paper checks, now it’s a direct deposit) I grinned like a fool from the mailbox to my front door. I was so stinking proud of myself that I had stayed home with my kids, used naptime wisely, and given more wiggle room in our budget.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if it’s you, it’s worth me sharing. You do not have to be a ‘boss babe’ or an ‘Instagram influencer’ or ‘looking to have a career’ in network marketing/sales.

You could just be someone who is looking for a little more wiggle room in your budget. I know I was.

If you’re curious about how to have more wiggle room in your budget that covers your kids sports,or your car payment, your mortgage, or pays for your next vacation, take a peek right here.

Snippet from my week

On Saturday Caleb and I hiked up to Margarita Peak: the highest peak in San Diego County west of I-15. It was a steep scramble, but the 360 degree views were completely stunning on such a clear day. To the west we could see the Pacific: from Mexico to Malibu. We could see Orange County, Irvine, Anaheim, and even Downtown LA. To the south and east we could see into our town (Fallbrook), Temecula, Hemet, and Riverside. But the most spectacular was seeing three of the SoCal 6 Pack of Peaks (the six tallest mountains in SoCal) topped with crisp white snow against a perfect blue sky. San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, and Mt. Baldy were simply stunning. We ended with a picnic supper overlooking a gorgeous Pacific sunset. It’s a hike I won’t soon forget!

Thanks for reading! What’s a budgeting tip that you have that you’ve found works really well? I’d love to hear about it! Just hit reply if you’d like to respond. (When you hit reply, your message goes directly to my email. It’s a private conversation between just us.) I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.