By now, you all know that I’m on a budget and I live on a mostly cash system in my wallet. I follow the cash envelope system, but I created the envelopes within my wallet. This is used to keep my household on budget and keep us going strong as we are paying off our debts.
Along with the envelope system and paying down my debts, I have created sinking funds for the family. If you are interested in what a sinking fund is, here is a video from my youtube channel, journeytopeacewithme.
Recently, I have been adding money to the school sinking fund since it’s summer time and we aren’t paying for certain things. We are currently not paying for aftercare for any of our children; however, we continue to budget for it. We decided that we would put the money away into the school sinking fund to cover back to school costs. The sinking fund is typically used for all things school related, including field trips. With the savings from aftercare, we have accumulated a decent amount of money within a relatively short period of time and it has sustained us for school shopping. I counted the money in the sinking fund in this video. Check it out to see how much we were able to put away.
If you’ve taken the time to watch the video, then you know exactly how much is in the account. We have two more pay periods before the start of school, and while we have used all of the money in the sinking fund with a few items remaining, we will build it back up with enough time to purchase the remainder of the items and have the $150 that is required for our youngest two for school for their snacks for the year.
I am going to do a follow-up video to detail exactly what we were able to buy with the money from the sinking fund, but what the sinking fund did for us was take the stress out of school shopping. We didn’t have to worry about where the money was coming from. We knew we had it and we knew how much more will be in the fund to get the rest of the things we need. Having the fund means we didn’t have to dip into our emergency fund. This. is. not. an. emergency. We know that back to school happens every year, so we must plan for it.
This is the first year that we have planned for these expenses and it made the process so much easier for us. This meant I didn’t have to wait for the no tax week. While it helps to save 7% in taxes, the way my anxiety is set up, I just couldn’t do it this year. This year, 7% wasn’t worth waiting in line for hours, fighting the crowds at the stores, dealing with whiny screaming children (mine) while shopping. I was able to shop freely at the time that was most convenient for me and I wasn’t boxed in by sales and timing.
I will admit that I did something that was not of the Lordt to save some money. Uncle Dave would not have approved; however, my money approved. I opened a credit card at The Children’s Place because the offer was 30% off with approval of a card. This meant that I saved $57 on that purchase. I was willing to do that because that’s at a minimum one pair of shoes for my little people. I turned around and paid the balance off with the cash in my wallet, so all is clear. Still no credit card debt here!
What are you all doing for school shopping? How are you managing saving for supplies and clothes? Do you have a sinking fund?
Journeytopeacewithme.com 