Budget????

Have you made out your itemized budget yet?  I encourage you, if you have not put your budget down on paper, be intentional and do it.  If it is not on paper you might just float around your intentional spending and mess up your budget.  It is ok if you have to change your budget, it is a living organism and change is to be expected.  I always write mine in pencil for that very reason.  If you are married or are doing your budget with a significant other always talk with them when things come up and you think the budget needs adjusting.   Your budget should be a group effort and if you have kids you should include them in some of the decision making.  There are certain areas you would not consult them in but, things like entertainment and eating out the kids could weigh in on.  If we do not teach our kids that we as adults have guidelines and a responsibility when it comes to spending they will not learn that very important lesson.
This realization hit me right up side the head one day while I was out doing some shopping with my kids.  I had my list of groceries that I needed to buy and I was keeping to my budget.  Sprat picked up something that he absolutely had to have and was not on my list or in my budget.  I had to explain he could not have it and as you can imagine that did not go over very well.   The objections came with, "why don't you just swipe your card, then I can get it."  This opened the door to explain what that card really is.  We do not use credit cards, I do have a debit card and that is the card that Sprat was referring.   I think we send the wrong message to our kids when they see us swipe that card.  We think they understand the concept of a debit card but they really do not.  A plastic card is a plastic card they do not understand where that money comes from.  Sprat, Big T, and I had long talk about what those plastic cards mean and how they really work.  My kids did not know you had to have money in the bank to use those cards they just saw me swipe that card and walk away with our purchases.  I never thought about all of this before, we go about our lives going through the motions of buying groceries and going to the post office and not thinking about all the things our kids pick up on when they are young and go along with us everywhere we go.  We must be deliberate in our spending and in our education of our kids.  They pick up on more than you realize.