Why talk finances?

You may be wondering why I am including finances in a blog about being organized. Well, other than the fact that I really get a kick out of trying to stretch my family's money, having your finances organized goes right along with having an organized life and household. Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting into stocks and all of that stuff. That's definitely not an area I know much about! I'm more into the basics of saving, budgeting, and making our family's money work for us. Before you can start budgeting and saving, though, it helps to get your finances organized.

***Disclaimer - I am not a financial advisor, just a mom who loves finding ways to stretch our family's money.

When we got married almost nine years ago, my husband and I each came into the marriage with different ideas of how we should manage our money. I believed firmly in using checks and cash to make most purchases. (This was more than nine years ago.) My husband, on the other hand, believed very much in using credit cards - responsibly, kept and filed every receipt ever received, and filed away all bills, bank statements, and anything he may possibly want at some other time. In addition to this, he kept track of his money spent on a computer program. It was tough trying to combine our two methods since it would mean streamlining my husband's process while I would have to learn how to work the computer program. Also, I'd have to get comfortable with using credit cards more.

We had the some of same issues when it came to budgeting - I had my ways, he had his ways, and we needed to find a compromise. I'll get into all of this more as we get further into the new year.

If your finances are already organized, kudos! Feel free to share ideas of what works for you as we get more into this on future Tuesdays. If you haven't kept on top of your finances, now is a great time to start!

Your financial task for this week is to start keeping track of those receipts. Select a location to keep your receipts - a simple shoebox or desk drawer will work for now. We'll work on organizing them next week.