With inflation still hitting bank accounts hard, our family of four — which includes two teenagers — realized it was time to start taking our household budget more seriously.
Over the last two years, our family has overhauled our budget, created important financial habits, and even involved our daughters. We are now making progress toward our money goals more than ever.
While I had a budget for many years, I suffered from lazy budgeting — treating it more like a suggestion than a rule and often overspending.
It turns out my family was not alone.
Eighty-four percent of Americans with a monthly budget sometimes overspent, according to a survey of more than 2,070 US adults over the age of 18 conducted last April by The Harris Poll on behalf of NerdWallet.
When inflation hit, and prices started to soar, we realized our family was not making as much progress toward our financial goals as we would have liked. If we were going to pay off our car loan, permanently stay out of credit card debt, and do a better job of saving for our daughters' college education and our retirements, we needed to start taking our budget more seriously.
Here are some ways we got our money situation under control.