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Spring Clean Your Budget · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to talking facts what you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and consumer sciences extension program,
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  our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:24
  Hello and welcome to talking facts what you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
• 0:30
  I am your host,
• 0:31
  Mindy Mccauley extension specialist for instructional support with family and consumer sciences extension at the University of Kentucky.
• 0:39
  My guest today is dr Nicole huff.
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  Assistant extension professor for family Finance and Resource management.
• 0:46
  Welcome Nicole.
• 0:48
  Hi Mindy.
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  So we're gonna be talking about spring cleaning our budget.
• 0:53
  That just sounds like so much fun.
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  Everybody loves cleaning and budgets.
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  Two favorite words at once.
• 1:00
  I'm glad you got that.
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  I was saying that tongue in cheek because I am,
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  I am certainly sure that this is something that we're all gonna enjoy.
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  But I really do.
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  I'm glad that spring is here and I am excited for the warm weather and I do think it is a great time for us to refresh and spruce up our budgets and spruce up our home.
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  So why not spring clean those budgets.
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  Right,
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  right.
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  Yeah.
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  Well,
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  I do think Mindy,
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  you know it is um it is such a time of renewal and refreshing and we love spring and we do often spring clean our homes and so I want to challenge people while they're doing that spring cleaning this year to also think about doing some tune up some little freshening up of their budgets because like our homes,
• 1:48
  our budgets do need annual maintenance and so you know,
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  um if we're in the habit of regularly evaluating our spending and are saving practices,
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  um you know then we're helping to keep our wallet focused on our financial priorities and so it helps us know where our money's going and we're making sure that our dollars are working the best that they can for our family.
• 2:14
  So we talk often talked about spending weeks.
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  So if we can clean up our budgets then we can prevent some unwelcome things like budget mold that might build up like that.
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  So where should people start when they want to clean up their finances for the spring?
• 2:33
  Yeah.
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  Well we'll get to defending leaks in a moment.
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  But I say start with those little dust bunnies.
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  So look at what's collecting dust in your accounts.
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  And so these are those things maybe those services or memberships or subscriptions you're no longer using.
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  Maybe some automated charge that you've forgotten about.
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  And so and it could be little,
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  it could be a 99 cent charge for a data package that you don't need.
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  It could be a $5.99 charge for some trial that a subscription trial of a streaming service that you forgot to cancel.
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  Um It could be a gym membership that you stop using when the pandemic started and you've never gone back but your account is being debited $30 a month.
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  And so take a look at any automated charge or recurring monthly or annual charge that you're not using and cancel those.
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  Um So sweep up those little those little cleanups,
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  those dust bunnies and put money back in your account.
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  And that just sounds like a great place to find lost money.
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  You know we always want to find some extra phones.
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  So that sounds like a great way to do that.
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  So what about making some financial repairs?
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  What else can we do if we know that our budget needs to be fixed up anyway.
• 3:58
  Yeah.
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  So here many you mentioned spending leaks and this is a good place to start.
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  And so if you're not familiar spending leaks are those little small seemingly innocent purchases that can add up over time.
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  And if we're not careful they can drain our accounts.
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  So there's those are those little drips.
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  So maybe um examine your needs versus your wants and are your financial priorities aligned.
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  And you know I heard that you can tell a lot about a person if you look at you know what's on.
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  We used to say the checkbook register.
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  But if you look at their checkbook register you could tell a lot about a person.
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  So um if you were to look at your bank account,
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  what are you spending a lot of your money on those UNplanned purchases.
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  Where is that going?
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  Is that out to eat?
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  Is it on quick little runs to the,
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  to the store or any kind of unplanned purchase.
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  And so are your financial priorities aligned And you know looking for leaks that you can plug you know,
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  reflecting on your financial changes.
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  Um have you taken on any new debt or added a payment or has had one of your bill's gone up looking for anything that is inaccurate in your current budget and making sure that you are adjusting for it for those rising cost of home bills or for any category that may have any spending category that may need to be just realigned or rebalanced.
• 5:29
  That makes me think that when our granddaughter was born a couple of years ago we didn't really budget for the added expense of having a grandchild.
• 5:39
  And perhaps that's something that grandparents need to think about because it is expensive to have a grandchild.
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  Yes.
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  And that's a great thing.
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  And so that may be a priority.
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  She's a priority in your life.
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  But but so make sure that she's reflected then in your budget.
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  Exactly you plan to spoil her.
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  Exactly.
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  That is exactly right.
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  So my,
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  my gift giving budget needed some adjustment and I should have,
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  I didn't need to wait for spring for that.
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  So um,
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  a part of this spring cleaning is maintenance.
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  Um of course we do regularly want to maintain our homes and we also need to regularly maintain our budget.
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  So how do we prepare for those financial needs that might be coming up and so just looking for those inaccuracies in our budget,
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  those things that may be overlooked.
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  And so preparing for upcoming expenses is important and so when we are looking,
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  you know,
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  we always say the holidays are an unexpected expense.
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  They need to be a part of our budget but are there other things and so you know,
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  for me,
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  I have kids,
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  one child embraces and one child braces are coming up and so I need to know,
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  you know,
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  how long do I have to prepare for that and start putting back that money now so that I'm not caught off guard by that and then very shortly after all have drivers um and so putting away for those vehicles and not waiting until um those that time arrives but that I am working them into my budget and into my savings plan so that I can plan accordingly and so just you know,
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  it's part of our budget,
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  maintenance is looking at what's coming on the horizon this season or a couple of seasons down the road and then backtracking to make sure that we are saving now for those expenses that we can expect later.
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  And I have told my Children that go ahead and put that the money that they have been spending on diapers into the braces account because that will be the next thing that will come along down the road and I know lots of people don't like to use that word budget and they think of it as a dirty word but what can we do to warm up budgeting.
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  So it doesn't,
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  I feel like such a dirty word and it becomes more natural.
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  Yeah and so budgeting it doesn't mean and people often hear budgeting and think that that means they have to remove all of that flexible spending and that's not it at all.
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  Um but budgeting is just assigning every dollar a job and and so if that job is to spoil your granddaughter or that job is to is to treat yourself to coffee that is okay as long as your income exceeds your expenses,
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  as long as you are covering your bills,
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  you are reducing debt,
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  you are meeting your financial obligations.
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  Um then it's good to have some some fun money and then of course you know saving for the future.
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  But one way to just warm up to budgeting to make it natural is to get in that habit of tracking your expenses and so that means saving those receipts um from the drive thru it means you know recording all of your purchases whether those are the big monthly bills or um you know the drive throughs,
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  the big purchases,
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  the small purchases and then um and then keeping track of that spending and you don't have to do anything complicated.
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  There are so many free apps available.
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  There are worksheets um there is one link in the money wise newsletter that you can download from the show notes for a simple tool that you can use to track your expenses.
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  And you know a joke about checkbook registers,
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  but banks still provide them.
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  And so if you stop in your local bank or your local credit union asked them for a checkbook register.
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  Um and that's a great tip.
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  If you've got a young child who or a team that is starting to balance their budget or a college student have them do it the old fashioned way um with some practice and mass skills and um record deposits into their account and then subtract expenses and withdrawals from their account.
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  But it's a good practice for adults to to track our spending so that we can make sure that our budget stays clean,
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  it stays tidy and that it sets ourselves up for financial success all year long.
• 10:04
  Well,
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  and I think it's always a great the feeling of accomplishment when you realize that you have saved more or you have not spent more than you've earned.
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  I suppose that's just kind of a benefit that comes along with recognizing what you are spending your money on and which you're not spending your money on right now.
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  And that's a good point to.
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  And it's something we talk about in this issue of money wise is to celebrate your financial successes.
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  And so we need to do that when we save for a goal,
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  when we put money aside when we pay off a debt that we need to recognize that those are really good things and to celebrate those financial success is that we make too.
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  So it's not just about um discipline and that's a good thing,
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  but it's about celebrating when we see ourselves exercising that discipline.
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  It is a great sense of accomplishment and I encourage families to,
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  to make it a celebration so that Children recognize that paying off debt or you know,
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  saving a nice sum of money is something that it's a goal.
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  We all can be a part of Nicole.
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  Thank you for the time that you spent with us today.
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  I think that sprinkling our budget might just be fun.
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  Well,
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  I'm glad.
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  I'm glad you think so.
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  I hope so too.
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  It can be and we can all celebrate and if you are just tuning in,
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  you are listening to talking facts and we are available on all major podcast providers.
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  Thank you for listening to talking facts.
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• 12:01
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• 12:04
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  Or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  It starts with us mm hmm.