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  • Writer's pictureGrace

How to Afford Things You Don’t Have a Budget Category For


I have used this method many times over the years since the 14 months we lived on $18,500 as a family of 5. There were many things that there simply wasn't the money for. I used this method to buy my boys their matching bedspreads, to have extras for guests, to take trips, and buy extras that weren't in our budget.


No matter how much or how little money you have to work with, there are always things that we want to do or buy that are not in the budget. Too often these become budget busters, but there is another way that I have found to stay in budget AND afford some of those extra things.


It all started when we lived in WV and were on very low income. Everything was budgeted so strictly just to be able to afford the absolute necessities. During this time I wanted to be much more intentional about practicing hospitality and having people over for meals, but I was unsure how to do that when our meals were very, very basic and every dollar had to be stretched as far as possible with groceries. How could I afford extras that would be nice to have for guests like some ice cream for dessert or some extra meat?


I decided to get out a canning jar and label it "Hospitality" and any little bit I could save on groceries would be added to that. If there were good sales that week and I didn't have to spend all of my $50 weekly grocery budget, I would put the change or any leftover dollars in my jar. It was a small amount but it made a huge difference. We started practicing more and more hospitality and it made my heart so happy to be able to buy little treats to have for when we had guests over.


When my son needed a new comforter for his bed, I wanted to get a matching bedspread to what my other son already had. I wanted to create a cute, comfy room for them but I had very little money to work with. The set was $35 at Walmart. The only money I could use was my personal money as everything else had to go to bills, food, or sinking funds for clothing, car licensing, and homeschool books. There was no extra in our budget and those categories were as slim as possible so there wasn't any reducing those category amounts. I had $25 a month in personal money each month. Any little bit that I could I would put aside in a jar on a shelf in my bedroom labeled "Savings" and over the next few months I saved up enough to buy the second comforter for their room. I also bought fat quarters and embroidery hoops and printed off free coloring pages of trucks and tractors and construction trucks and then traced the designs on the fabric and embroidered them and hung them on the wall.

We still have them and the comforters :)

This last month (January) I did a no spend month. This was a two-fold purpose for me. For one, I wanted to start the year off on a good foot and 2021 was a very expensive year for us and I wanted to reign in any unnecessary spending. The second reason was because we tightened down our budget to throw everything we could at our truck loan to pay it off as fast as possible. With that, I don't have money set aside for birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. February has my husband's birthday, two of his sibling's birthdays, and Valentine's Day. The first week of March has my birthday, my daughter's birthday, and our anniversary. We have a lot of extra expenses in a short amount of time. To cover gifts and extra experiences, I took everything we saved over this last month from our regular budget categories (food, misc, personal) and put it in a gift fund.


Since my husband is not a big gift person, we will be using it on an experience. We will make him a special breakfast and in the afternoon we will meet up with friends and go bowling. What I saved will pay for our's and our friend's shoe rentals and to reserve 2 lanes for 2 hours. I also have money set aside to take my husband to a nice dinner that night at a restaurant he's been wanting to try.


I have some simple things planned for Valentine's Day as well and little ways to make it special that I'll share a little later.


I think the biggest things that have helped me has been to accept whatever limits our budget has and then to think of creative ways to afford what we want or to find a more affordable option to what we want. There is always a way if we will be creative! Whether you have a very tight income or have a tight budget because of paying off debt or other goals, looking for those creative ways to still enjoy things while sticking to your priorities is so empowering! I'd love to hear of any creative ways you have used to do something you wanted without busting your budget!

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