budget – Bookish Luna

Hello and welcome to a VERY different post. I normally don’t talk about this topic, but I thought it would be fun to show what budgeting tools work for me personally. That is not to say I am a money or budgeting professional or saying these things will work for you. These are just a combination of things that have worked for me and my lifestyle. If you want to learn about budgeting and the like, talk to a professional!

Budget Book

Legend Budget Planner is the budget book that I have been using for about a year and a half to two years at this point. What I really like about this planner, as they call it, is the fact that everything is already set up and you have plenty of room to add your bills and other expenses without wasting too many pages. It also was the first budgeting thing I activity bought for myself and it was great at helping me understand budgeting and what should go into it.

Cash Envelopes

Another things that has worked for me is using cash and actually seeing the money leave my pocket and wallet. I used a card for most things, but I realized I never really kept track of how much I was spending. This really puts it into perspective for me personally. This is kinda based off of Dave Ramsey’s Envelope System, but I will be honest I never really did research into this system or this person. I did however link an article about it from debt.org for you to read more on it. I mainly just say people on youtube doing it and it seemed like it worked for them so I gave it a shot so I can’t say I follow his method per se.

Pictured above you see the items that I budget, stash is just money I want to save, hobbies is for books and yarn arts or anything hobby wise I want to get, gas is for my car, groceries is for delicious foods, flow is money that I can move into any category depending on need, and essentials is things I need like shampoo, deodorant, or cleaning products. This set was made by The Average Budget. I also have used items from THandCoDesigns and MsCaliBudget and loved them.

So, these are the things that work for me personally at this point in time. It might change as my needs change, but we shall see. Do you have any budgeting tools or methods you use?

Sign Off 2020 — Thanks for Reading! Sincerely, Luna

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Hello and welcome to my bullet journal post. This month I am really in love with my spread. I think it is because I really made this month simple and removed a lot of fluff. I feel like this is going to lead to me having a really focused month! I also really feel like this months “theme” if you can call it that is warm and cozy, which is something I really crave right now. Even though it is the middle of the summer I have been crocheting a lot and it has reminded me about cuddling up with the blanket I am almost done with, a coffee and a good book. Anyway, on to my spreads for the month!

Items Used

Sharpie Pen size fine
Tombow Brush Pen color #992
Royalty Free Stock Photo Site: Pixabay
A5 Garden Slither Neapolitan Dot Grid Notebook from Olive and Archer
Amenti Oracle by Jennifer Sodini

Inspired By

Budget Layout: The Petite Planner

My Bullet Journal Spreads

The above image shows my dashboard for the month. On the left hand side I decided to use a flowing script to write the name of the month and year and then highlighted it with my color of the month, Tombow #992, which is a warm light tan color. It almost looks faded, which I really like. On the right hand side I printed out a picture of a Scottish castle that was a similar tan color. The angle focuses on a rounded tower, it gives me fairytale vibes. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to use it this month.

The next two pages are practical spreads, the first one on the left is my budget planner of sorts. I wanted a place where I could note my income, my account totals at the start and end of the month, a checklist to keep track of the bills I paid and then my current amount owed on my loans. I really wanted the headings to pop in this spread since there will be a lot of information as the month progresses I decided to put a line above and below each title as well as highlighted using the color of the month. On the right side I put my TBR and Goal spread I have used the last few months. Both are vertical lists each taking up half of the page as if folded lengthwise. At this point I have not decided which books are on my TBR or what goals I have for myself, but they will be added soon! I also decided to decorate the headings the same as the previous page to tie everything together.

The next two spreads will also fill out more as the month passes. On the lefthand side I have my monthly oracle card. This month I picked I Relate in Peace, the image that does along with this saying is an interesting one. It is a blue circle with blue hands reaching towards quite a few symbols such as a snake and an eye. I will be honest I am unsure of the other symbols at this time and will be looking into the guide book so I can figure out what they are. On the right hand side I added my Books Read spread where I doodled a few lines to represent shelves. I will be adding picture of the book covers I have read as the month progresses.

My weekly spread is the same as it has been for the past few months. On the left hand side I leave blank apart from a very small august calendar. I leave this area open to write what I am grateful for that happened that week. On the right, I have my rectangles where I write my appointments, to do lists, and notes for each day. I have them in a 3 by 2 grid, I really like how compact and organized this layout is. I never used to like combining the weekend into one list, but I am starting to really like it. I wanted to tie these pages into the read of the month so I highlighted the day/number by using the color of the month.

Well, that is my bullet journal for the month, I hope you like what I did! I am really loving the vibe that is given by the picture of the castle and the faded brown color. I feel that it is warm, welcoming, and cozy.

What is your favorite color? If you use a bullet journal, what is your theme?

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Tag: budget

What I Use to Budget & Financially Plan

Bullet Journal | August 2020