Zero based budget

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My next tutorial about vinyl art comes from my journey in to the confusion of the budget world. Technically I will talk about a zero based budget. But to get to that point of the zero based budget I employed an envelope budget system. In my opinion they are almost one in the same.

Bare with me while I explain how we came to implement budgets in to our financial lives.  This will explain how we came to  do this specific vinyl art project.

There are affiliate links included in this post.  If you so choose to click on one and buy  it doesn’t cost you extra.  You are helping this blogger out by clicking and buying from links,  read to learn more.

Money Problems

My wife and I had been married a few years. We were living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes not even living. Life was tough to put it mildly. The realization that something needed to be done hit us hard.

That something needed to be figured  out quickly to help  us fix our situation.  What was happening to our money is what needed to be found out. The dreaded B word (budget) was heard of before.   The problem is we just didnt know much about it or how to put one in to play.

 zero based Budget to the rescue?

We came across two versions of the same concept. The specific budget was a zero based budget or an envelope budget system. The other version was more modern in its approach. It is a tech nerds dream zero based budget. It is done by a software system.  The system can be ran on your personal computer or your phone.

Before I get to my project I want to explain a little more about the zero based budget system.

Envelope Budgeting

Envelope budgeting is nothing new. It has been around for decades but most people still don’t exactly know what it is. Envelope Budgeting is a systematic way of maintaining a personal budget while managing to pay all the bills on time. In other words envelope system, also known as the envelope budgeting method, is a popular method for visualizing and maintaining a flexible budget.

Setting up your budget

The key idea is to prioritize cash income to meet separate categories of household expenses in physically separate envelopes. This envelope system also sometimes referred to as clip system helps you keep your money organized by putting a specific amount in different envelopes. This helps you to see exactly how much money you have left in a budget category just by taking a quick peek in your envelope.

This is a great tool to help you stop from overspending. In the 21^st century.  Modern budgeting  is  now being implemented using different software systems..

Before we jump into further details let’s just go over the brief history of this system. Envelope budgeting started when bills were paid with cash and people could put specific amounts in different envelopes, each representing a different purpose.

The envelope budgeting system is very tangible. You use cold hard cash to control your spending and when you run out, you stop spending. In other words if you have no money left in the envelope that you specified for clothes shopping, you cannot go clothes shopping until your next paycheck .

Now, that you are familiar with the system let’s talk about how you can personally use it to control and manage your finances.

implementing your budget

In order to implement this system in your life, first you need to determine your net  income total.. This is extremely important.  In order to budget correctly every dollar. you earn has to be ear marked to a specific bill or category. You simply cannot spend every dime as if you are an emperor.

You need to determine and calculate the exact amount that you have and what can you spend after taking care of all the bills.  It is recommended  to save enough so you can start investing.

The next step would be to decide how much you need to spend or allocate on every category of daily expenses and necessities. Some examples of categories can be house hold items, groceries, clothing, gifts etc.

Its about to get real.  Every penny gets a job.

The third step is to get envelopes for each budget category.   Fill them with the cash allocated to each category.  As mentioned before. The main idea is that the moment you run out of cash from any envelope, you don’t spend another dime on that category.  If you use the software route.  You allocate the amounts of your categories to a spreadsheet.  Also you have to have to continually keep on top of your daily expenditures.

Debt repayment

The next and final thing to do is to pay off any debt that you have from the money that is left in your envelopes at the end of the month or you can just save the money for investments. No matter what you do, you cannot over spend.

Learn from your budget

This system has been  very effective and it has a lot of advantages to your financial livelihood.  We are witnesses to that.  Refraining from over spending is another great positive to this plan.. And most of all it helps to discipline your life.

It assists in keeping record of your earnings and spending and helps you to make better and smarter choices while making decisions related to finances. this method helps to grow your savings, which is a huge advantage as your savings can be used as an emergency fund or an investment check which can in-turn help you in achieving financial freedom.

ATM’s can be your downfall

With this system you start to see your cash as tangible. ATM cards can easily cause you to overspend. Envelope budgeting allows you to be  in tune with your budget.  Because every time you spend money, you have to remove it from your envelope.  And best of all with this effective system you will never miss your bill payment deadlines. I know  how missing payments can be really stressful.  Envelope budgeting just saves you from it.

Additional income

An important part of budgeting is to also seek for other streams of income,  This is to speed up the process of paying down your debt.  Which allows you to start making your money work for you.  There is a blog post by www.christianaacha.com.  She has a list of ways to bring in more income.  Read about it here.  Another method of getting extra money is through your grocery shopping habits.  Pickupyourcraft.com has a great post about five tips to save money on groceries without using coupons.  I just read another post by speakingofcents.com.  She lists several ways to help save money.

Friendly reminder

This vinyl art project serves as a reminder to follow your new zero based budget system.

Materials needed to complete a similar tutorial to this one.

–Heat transfer vinyl or Oracal  will also work.

–wooden plaque

–strong adhesive like E6000

-old expired debit or credit cards

Design

My first step was to design the wording “Live Within Your Means”  I personally do all of my designing in CorelDraw and import it in to Cricut’s Design Space.  Design Space is a good product.  But I use CorelDraw on a daily basis and can get what I need done quicker.

After I designed my saying.  I sent it to the Cricut.  Remember if you are using heat transfer vinyl you have to mirror your project.  If you use regular adhesive vinyl like oracal you can cut it regular.

Put it together

The next basic step is to apply your vinyl.  In my case I used heat transfer vinyl.  I own a heat press.  This is how I applied it.  I set my press to 310 degrees,  I placed my thin sign with the vinyl on my press.   Then I closed the press but I manually held it down.  The problem is I didn’t want to apply stress to my  machine by clamping it down all the way.  I set the timer for fifteen seconds,  With this project I let it cool down before removing the backing.

Cutting up that credit card

To act as a border on this vinyl art.   I decided to use old expired credit and debit cards.  I thought they brought a unique wow reaction.  That and I have a lot of expired debit cards that I didn’t dispose of when I should have.  If you have expired cards please be smart and cut them up.  Don’t be like me on this.  Do as I ask and not as I did.

If you do have some lying around just use the card symbol and make sure no number or identifying info is on there.  To apply the E6000 don’t apply it to thickly.  You don’t want the glue oozing out the sides.  Just in case keep a damp paper towel close by to avoid any unsightly oozing.  Once your sign is dry.  You can hang it up where you will have a handy reminder about finances.

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