Category Archives: Intentional Spending

How lifestyle creep keeps people poor

I was speaking with someone about finances a few months ago and mentioned that I’ve kept our expenses pretty stable as our income has gone up. He told me I should relax and enjoy my life more.

That was a strange thing for me to hear and it didn’t resonate in the slightest. I’ve chosen a material standard that I’m comfortable with. I have a spacious home that allows me to host my married children comfortably. I have a car that runs well. I have plenty of food and clothing for my family. My bills are paid.

If there’s something I want, I get it. But I don’t have a lot of wants. We’ve created a life that I don’t want or need to take a vacation from, and I feel abundant with all aspects of my life. I’m not living in lack or denying myself by spending our money intentionally.

This person was expressing the position that if you make more, you should upgrade your life accordingly. This is what is called lifestyle creep, and why so many people will never get ahead. As they earn more, they feel they deserve a nicer car, a bigger home, more exotic vacations and eating out multiple times a month. They can have more, so they feel they should – and they upgrade accordingly.

They’re earning more, perhaps even substantially more, but they aren’t saving or investing significantly more. Lifestyle creep will cause someone to continue living paycheck to paycheck, regardless of how much money he earns.

Money management skills fall into two broad categories- earning money and managing what you have (spending/saving/investing). My personal definition of frugality is intentional spending. Intentional spending is an inherent part of managing your money, and why frugality skills are valuable to learn.

If someone has a low income and is frugal, he will maximize what he has and can meet his needs even when the numbers are tight. If he doesn’t, he’ll be in debt and live hand to mouth forever.

We easily could have been poor and gone into debt with our income level. When we had around seven children, the accountant preparing our taxes said although he worked in the Orthodox Jewish community, he wasn’t accustomed to seeing numbers like ours. While I experienced our income as comfortable, he couldn’t understand how it was possible that not only weren’t we in debt, but we had savings. He was intrigued and impressed when I explained It was about making choices as to how we spent our money.

Since I’ve been blogging for eighteen years, the choices we made aren’t a secret – I’ve shared a lot about that.

If a person has a higher salary and is careful about his money, he’ll manage well with more just as he managed with less. Someone who isn’t intentional with his spending and engages in lifestyle creep will often have lots of expensive toys but a minimum of savings and investments- and many times he’s in debt. I used to be shocked by high earners who have little in investments and are debt leveraged up to their eyeballs, but not anymore.

Learning to mange lifestyle creep is critical to getting ahead with your finances.

I am convinced that how we spend money isn’t exclusively about what our expenses are, but a deep reflection of our values and how we define our worth.

Why do we engage in lifestyle creep? What are we telling ourselves when we decide to upgrade? Do we see ourselves as more successful or worthy people when we can buy or acquire more?

To be clear, I have no bone to pick about upgrading your life and am not suggesting that no one should ever have nicer things when they have the financial capacity for it. I strongly believe that everyone should spend his money in the way that brings him the most value. There are things I can now afford to do that I couldn’t do in the past, like pay for private speech therapy for my sons with special needs, and I’m so grateful I can do it.

I am advocating for intentionality and thoughtfulness about raising your level of spending. Learning to be content with what you already have and saying ‘no’ to lifestyle creep will be a big boost to your finances.

Avivah

Do you really need a car?

Here in Israel, cars are expensive and gas is very expensive, much, much more than in the US. While a car makes life so much more convenient, it comes at a price.

We’ve been living in Israel for thirteen and a half years and though we had a large family of ten children, didn’t buy a car until six and a half years ago. At that time, we were the largest family in our apartment building, and the only one who didn’t have a car. When we bought our home, we looked for a location with good public transportation and though it wasn’t as convenient as a car of our own, it served us quite well. We took our time in buying a car, not wanting the expenses of car ownership to sink our budget.

When we finally got a car, it was because life had become very difficult without one, due to the challenges of a child with special needs who had very little stamina for walking. The bus stop was less than a five minute walk from our home but it could take a half hour for him to walk home, and when multiplied by every time I needed to go somewhere with him, it had become stressful and draining. At that point, we agreed that having a car had become a need.

Fast forward to today, we are living in an area where the public transportation is irregular and infrequent. (I wouldn’t have considered living in a place like this if we didn’t already own a car.) We have minimal shopping and services locally, and though a small number of people manage without a car, it’s pretty much a necessity for living here.

For us, not only was one car a necessity, we needed two.

Last year, after we had a series of frustrating and expensive events involving our second vehicle, neither my husband nor I wanted to replace it. We brainstormed how we could manage with one car. We talked about what we needed the second car for, how we it it, when we used it, and how could we change our car usage so it wouldn’t be necessary.

We were able to work around most of the times we needed it, but the biggest factor that we couldn’t initially get around was my husband’s travel for work. He works in the center of the country once a week, and to get to the train that goes there, he would drive a car to the station, park it and then drive home after he got off the train on the way back. This made the travel manageable for him.

Taking a bus to and from the train station could add four hours onto his day, between the longer travel time on the bus, and waiting for the bus after getting off the train (it runs only every two hours, and if you miss it by a few minutes, you have a long wait). That seemed unreasonable.

However, when we both agreed we really didn’t want to have another car, he agreed to try it.

It isn’t comfortable. My husband leaves before 5 am and gets home at 8:45. I’m not going to sugar coat it and make it sound all wonderful, because it’s not. He’s been up for sixteen hours by the time he gets home and that is a very long day.

It may not be wonderful but it’s doable. He rests on the train, has changed his schedule to take a later train in order to minimize the waiting time for a bus and he has a good attitude about it all. This one decision has eliminated the expense of purchasing, fueling, insuring, maintaining and repairing a second car, and for the inconvenience four days a month, it’s worth it for us.

Finding ways to save will usually require you to first think differently about what you’re doing, and then do things differently. Different is going to feel uncomfortable and hard, at least in the beginning. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do them.

Building up the money you save as a result of these choices will create freedom and decrease stress the longer you do it, and that produces its own positive reward cycle.

If you have a car and you’re struggling financially, you might want to consider if you really need that car. I know how much easier life is with a car, believe me, and I know how irritating it may be to be asked to consider even for a moment not owning that car. But if you can’t really afford it – and honestly you can’t if have credit card debt/overdraft, or if you have no money for savings – then the price of a car is not being able to have the peace of mind that comes when there’s some positive padding between your income and expenses.

Peace of mind may be invisible but it’s worth a whole lot.

Avivah

My January food expenses and itemized breakdown

When I shared that a number of people in our family eat zero carb and others eat a very high animal protein diet, people wondered how much we spend every month. I’ve carefully tracked every food item that I’ve purchased this past month, so that I can share with you what I bought and what I paid for it. For reference, I’ve also included the dates and the stores I shopped at.

Note: food is my highest budget item, meaning that this is the category I spend the most on every month.

January 6, 20255 – Yesh Chesed – 2264.44 – in conjunction with the price increases of Jan. 1, many stores ran excellent sales the first week.

  • 21.45 kg meat x 49.90 – 1284.97
  • 19.42 kg meat x 49.90 – 1163.26
  • natural grape juice, 3 x 7.90 – 23.7
  • tilapia – (on sale 14.90) – 2.144 kg – 31.95
  • tilapia – 1.889 kg x 24.90 – 47.04 minus 8.56 sale discount- 38.48 total (only part of this purchase was at the sale price)
  • sugar, 10x 3 – 30 shekels (usually 4.90 each)

There was a minimum purchase of 100 shekels on non sale items needed to get all of the above at the sale prices, so I bought:

  • butter, 200 grams ( 11 x 8.90) – 97.90
  • 1 sour cream – 2.70

January 6, 2025 – Yavniel supermarket7.84 – ingredients for group my teen leads

January 6, 2025 – Yavniel supermarket128.83

  • carrots, 1.225 kg x 5.90 – 7.23
  • 3 trays of eggs, 30 eggs each x 32 shekels – 96
  • 3 challahs – 25.60

January 7, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef 288.80

  • carrots – 4.80
  • Pink Lady apples – 13.2
  • peanut butter, 4 x 7.5 – 30
  • 7 trays of 30 eggs x 28.80 each – 201.60
  • station fee (3) plus non food items – 39.20

January 9, 2025 – Rami Levi – 30.81, cheese, just short of a kilo for 31 shekels a kg

Jan. 11, 2025 – Shufersal 4.60– 2 bananas (took two of the younger kids to an orthodontist appointment and wanted to get them a snack afterwards)

Jan. 11, 2025 – Rami Levi – 195.16

  • whole chickens,6.78 x 18.90 – 128.18
  • chicken hearts, .756 x14.90 – 11.42 (dog)
  • chicken hearts, .840 x 14.90 – 12.52 (dog)
  • tilapia – 2.60 x 19.90 – 51.74

January 14, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef 180

  • 1 package of fresh dill – 3.8
  • vitamin d drops 2 x 29 – 58
  • 4 trays of eggs, 30 eggs each – 28.8 x 4 – 115.20
  • station fee – 3

January 21, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef – 232

  • onions, 2 -2 kg bag – 3.75 kg x 4 – 15
  • sweet potatoes, 2 kg – 10
  • 4 honey, 900 grams – 17.90 x 4 – 71.60
  • dried dates, 1 kg – 14.50
  • 3 trays of eggs, 28.80 x 3 – 86.40

January 23, 2025 – Shufersal – 161.58

  • seltzer (1.5 liters), six pack, 2 x 16.90 – 33.80
  • cottage cheese, 6 shekels x 10 – 60
  • 15% sour cream, 21 x 2.77 – 58.17
  • red peppers – 1.595 x 5.90 – 9.41

January 23, 2025 – Rami Levi – 815.50 – this receipt seems to have gotten lost – it was whole chicken, chicken quarters, chicken thighs, 2 pkg chicken livers (for dog) and almost 3 kg of salmon (on sale for 50 shekels a kg)

Jan. 28, 2025 – Mishnat Yosef266.20

  • avocados, 5.90 kg x 3 kg – 17.60
  • celery – 4.4
  • parsley – 3.8
  • sliced bread (750 gram loaf), 5.60 x 2 – 11.20
  • 10 – 1 kg bags spelt flour – 76.50
  • 4 trays of eggs, 28.80 – 115.20
  • non food items – 34.50
  • 3 shekel station fee

Jan.29, 2025 – butcher 1474.70

  • ground beef, 20.99 kg x 50 – 1049.50
  • ground beef fat, 10.63 kg x 40 – 425.2

January 29, 2025 – Rami Levi 401.95

  • chicken wings, 48.77 kg x 6.90 – 366.55
  • chicken thighs, 2.989 kg x 21.90 – 65.46 (sale price for up to 3 kg, if there’s a purchase of non sale items over 75 shekels)

My total grocery purchases for January came out to 6487.48 shekels.

The total includes all food and also the odds and ends that I get at a supermarket that aren’t food. Our family of eight daily eaters includes 4 adults who have mostly animal products, 1 adult and three children who eat a heavily meat based diet but also have some produce and starches, and a medium sized dog.

At least one Shabbos a month (sometimes as much as three times a month) we host our married children and their families, in addition to one adult son who comes home for one Shabbos a month. Most of the refreshments for the boys’ group that my teen son runs also comes out of our food budget.

I set a goal to get down to 6000 for the month of January; in the last few months since adding two adult carnivores to the mix I’ve spent close to 7500 and I challenged myself to lower the expenses in this area. While I could have come in below 6000 if I delayed the last purchases made at the end of the month. However, I didn’t have any ground beef left, and I had the opportunity to get a large amount of chicken wings at an amazing price and don’t know if a week later that would have been the price, so I bought them when I had the opportunity.

Most of the chicken and meat I bought in the last week of January will be eaten in February. It all evens out, since at the end of December I bought a lot of meat that we ate in January.

Produce – We don’t eat a lot of produce but we do eat more than what it looks like from this post. You won’t see everything we use listed, only what we paid for. I’ll share more about produce in a separate post.


Bulk grocery purchases – This month I also did a bulk shopping run, which I do infrequently. (It’s been over a year and a half since my last bulk shopping trip.) Last month my husband took the car to work in Tel Aviv, which is not far from the bulk store, and to maximize the gas being spent, he stopped in to buy about 500 shekels of items there.

I purposely schedule a bulk shopping trip during a month that is lower in expenses. Averaging my spending for this over the year, it adds another 200 shekels to our monthly purchases. I’m including this shopping in the list of things I bought this month, but keeping the bulk order separate from the other food orders. If I need to refill anything that was bought in bulk during the coming year, it will be included in the monthly grocery category.

January 19, 2025 – 1326 – bulk shopping (the total includes 18% tax but the individual items are listed before the tax has been added)

  • coconut cream, 1 liter carton x 12 – 138
  • tuna fish, 1 kg vacuum pack x 12 – 258
  • vinegar, 4 liter – 8.50
  • tomato paste, A10 can (2.5 kg) x 2 – 42
  • mini tuna cans, 95 grams – 2.75 x 12 – 33
  • cocoa powder, 1 kg – 35
  • baking soda, 1 kg – 5.20 x 3 – 15.60
  • dried coconut strips, 1 kg – 31.50 x 2 – 63
  • sunflower seeds, 1 kg – 13 x 2 – 26
  • fish gelatin, 1 kg – 95
  • walnuts, 1 kg – 35
  • flax seeds, 1 kg – 5.30
  • dried apples, 1 kg – 22 x 2 – 44
  • cheddar cheese – 7.80 kg – x 32 – 282.80
  • kashkaval cheese, 200 gr – 9 (I treated myself)
  • dish soap, 18 kg bucket – 68

January 19, 2025 – 755.70 – bulk shopping

  • 2 – 20 kg case coconut oil – 354 x 2 – 708 (this will last a year)
  • 3 vanilla extract, 1 liter bottle – 15.90 x 3 – 47.70

Total bulk shopping – 2081.70

Total grocery shopping – 6487.51 shekels

For the month of February, I’m again setting a goal of 6000 shekels for groceries. Let me know if you found this breakdown helpful, and if you’d like to see me track the breakdown again!

How much do you spend on your monthly food shopping, and how many people are you feeding? Do you have any questions about the shopping I did? Share in the comments!

Avivah

Save money on driving- propane for cars in Israel

When I learned about propane fueled vehicles, I was intrigued – how did it work, how much did it cost and how much did it save?

This interest was a natural extension of the research I had done on running a vehicle on waste vegetable oil. I didn’t ever write about this on my blog even though my first year of blogging overlapped with driving the mini school bus we bought and converted to run on waste vegetable oil. My husband was a restaurant supervisor at the time, and restaurants need to pay to dispose of their waste vegetable oils. When my husband offered to take it off their hands, it was a win all around, since it saved them money and we got easy access to a fuel source.

It was a great project- we learned a lot, it saved money and was good for the environment. So my interest in alternative fuels goes way back.

After spending a lot of time on a forum dedicated to converting cars to run on propane and particularly reading feedback from knowledgeable mechanics, I felt comfortable making deciding to move in this direction. When it was time to replace our vehicle, we decided to buy a car that was already converted to propane. (The propane system is installed in addition to the regular gas system; it doesn’t replace it.)

That was five years ago, and in that time we’ve owned a total of four cars that were converted to propane. Two of the four were already converted to run on propane when we bought them; I had propane systems installed in the other two cars. It’s fair to say I have a good bit of experience with these vehicles by this time.

When I initially learned that propane systems are a legally recognized option, there are gas stations across the country with propane pumps, and it saves so much money – I was surprised that hardly anyone has heard of it!

When we filled up our first propane car, I felt like we and all the others using the propane pumps were members of an almost secret club who found an inside way to beat high fuel prices – only 5% of cars in Israel are converted to propane. Propane is half the cost of gasoline, and even with a a 90 – 95 percent efficiency rate compared to gas (meaning that you get 5 -10 percent less mileage per liter as compared to gas), it’s quite a savings on fuel.

At my most recent fill up, I bought 24.729 liters of gas for 3.54 shekels a liter, for a total of 87.54 shekels. Propane is known as LPG (liquid petroleum gas), or in Hebrew, גפ”ם, but usually called גז.

This wasn’t a do it yourself project – we had our systems professionally installed. The two places I worked with and would recommend are J-GAS in Haifa, and Gas Saver/ גז חסכן in Kiryat Malachi. The cost of conversion depends on your vehicle; five years ago the costs of conversion at Gas Saver was 5000 shekels (now it’s up to 6000), and we paid 7000 shekels for our most recent propane conversion a year and a half ago at J-GAS.

That’s a lot of money to spend to save a bit on gas, right? However, realize that you’re going to spend money to fuel your car no matter what. If you install and use a propane system, you begin saving money from the first time you drive your car. Once your fuel savings equal the amount you spent on the conversion, you break even.

Reaching the break even point depends on your car and driving habits – we reached that point once we drove 10,500 km. We’ve driven over 45,000 kilometers since we did our conversion just 20 months ago, so it took us about a half a year to break even. It’s as if we paid the regular price of gas for the first 10,500 kilometers, and for the next almost 35,000, we’ve paid half price.

Our car uses some gasoline each time we drive, in addition to the propane. Some cars run only on propane once they are warmed up, and their savings are higher. Very conservatively estimated, we’ve saved over 10,000 shekels in gas in the last year on just this one car. For the cars we purchased that already had propane systems in them, we didn’t have any payback time, and we began immediately saving as soon as we drove them. And since most of the time we had two vehicles running on propane, the savings on fuel costs were significant.

There are additional maintenance costs for this system; every fifteen thousand kilometers we have to change the filters. Depending where you have the filters changed, it’s around 200 – 500 shekels each time (we go to JGas where it’s 200).

A bonus for the functioning of the car is that engines that run on propane stay cleaner, since propane has a higher octane rating than gasoline, and the reduced wear and tear on the engine reduces maintenance costs. As a much cleaner burning fuel, it’s also better for the environment.

Avivah

Buying bulk portions and repackaging

Sometimes buying a large size of a product will be significantly less than buying the much smaller product, but don’t assume that it’s always less. You must check the unit pricing to be able to accurately compare prices and know that you’re saving money.

Once you see it’s a good deal, you’re going to ask yourself, ‘What do you do with such a large container full of product?!’

When I saw jumbo (over 2.6 kg) cans of tomato paste for 25 shekels, the savings was so substantial that I stopped buying the standard size. Once opened, I kept the can covered in the fridge, but sometimes before I could finish it (because it’s a huge amount), the top layer would grow mold and I would throw whatever was left away. Even though I was still saving money, this obviously detracted from the savings.

For quite some time I went back to using small cans until one day I was out of tomato paste except for the two bulk cans in my pantry. At this point, I thought about a solution and now I’m back to buying tomato paste in large cans. I fill a silicone mini muffin mold with tomato paste and freeze it.

Once it’s all frozen, I remove the frozen pucks from the mold and stack them in a freezer bag. I put the bag in the freezer and remove the amount I need when I make a dish. Now I enjoy the savings along with the convenience of easy to use portions.

Another example – I bought a three kilo container of minced garlic for about 35 shekels, then separate two cups into a jar that I keep in my fridge. I freeze the rest, and refill the small jar as needed from the larger container.

I buy these items during my infrequent bulk shopping trips, at a store that sells restaurant size containers. But they can sometimes be found at larger supermarket chains as well.

My bulk shopping cart

Last week I did my bulk shopping for the first time in a year and a half, and some other things I bought that I transfer to smaller containers as needed are: baking soda (1 kg bag – 6.10 shekels), vinegar (4 liter jug – 10 shekels) and dish washing paste (18 liter bucket – 80 shekels).

There are plenty of things that I could theoretically save money by buying in large containers, that I choose to buy in a smaller size because the money savings isn’t worth the repacking and the space it takes to store. An example would be a huge can of olives, versus buying a can that is enough for one meal. I’ve seen five gallon buckets of techina for a great price, and bulk peanut butter, but I stick with the standard jar size found in any store.

No one can tell you what is worth buying in bulk, because it depends on what you use and how you use it. But you can definitely save a good bit of money by shopping in bulk wisely.

If you ever buy larger than usual sizes, what items are worth it for you to buy? How much do you save and how do you store it?

Avivah

Myth busting – I don’t have the time to be frugal

Often people say they don’t have time to do money saving activities- they’re just too busy.

I empathize with how full life can be – overwhelmingly full, even.

There are two parts to my response.

The first is that very few people are completely honest with themselves about how they spend their time, and that leads them to think they have less time than they do.

Nine years ago I began tracking my time throughout my day, and I did this for many months. It was incredibly eye opening. It showed me where I actually spent my time, how much time I spend on those activities, and how much time I wasted with nothing to show for it.

Time tracking is like money tracking – it lets you know what you have and where it’s going. I’m not suggesting you track your time but I’m positive that if you did, you’d find you have much more discretionary time than you think.

I think just as big an issue as not having an accurate idea of how your time is spent, is the fact that no one wants to spend their time doing things that they associate with drudgery and deprivation.

Everything takes time. It takes time to shower, to get dressed, to make your food, to eat, to take care of your children and to drive to work. It takes time to go to the gym, or take a hike or a vacation.

Life is full of time consuming activities. Just like with money, it’s potentially empowering when you realize YOU get to choose to spend your time in a way that brings the most value to your life.

I deeply appreciate having peace of mind around finances. I like knowing that my family always has food and clothing, our bills are paid, and upcoming expenses are budgeted for. I like being relaxed when the holidays come around or when my children get engaged and married, knowing that I’m prepared for all of the related expenses. I like living without deprivation and without worry about debts. This is fundamental to my quality of life.

It’s not our income that has created that peace of mind, but how I spend what we have. Right now we have a comfortable income, but even throughout all of the years that our income was much, much lower (most of our married lives), living frugally has consistently created a high quality of life for our family.

So I spend time tracking our income, budgeting, meal planning, shopping carefully and doing a lot of things myself rather than hiring others to do it for me. I enjoy doing those things and have a sense of satisfaction around them. I see the value of them and I associate them with an abundant life.

I suggest that if you were to associate money saving activities with being able to live your life in the way you want, you’d also find enjoyment in them. It’s much easier, even with a busy schedule, to make time for the things you enjoy doing.

You have all of the time you need. But you have to use it intentionally, you need to be conscious and aware of how you budget it, so that it will add to the quality of life you want to have.

Avivah

Repair your clothing, don’t throw them away

I was sitting at my sewing machine working through a pile of pants to be repaired, when my daughter-in-law noticed what I was doing. She asked me if I could hem a skirt of hers, and I agreed, so she gave it to me. It wasn’t a major repair, it just needed a couple of minutes to sew and it was as good as new.

At the same time, a friend of my son came in and seeing what I was doing, asked me if I could fix his pants. Yes, I could, so he brought them to me and I repaired them as well.

It’s inconvenient and expensive to have your clothing repaired by someone else so most people will give or throw clothing away rather than deal with it. Replacing items that were overall in good condition other than the needed repair will cost money, and if you can maintain what you have so it lasts longer, you’ll be saving that money instead.

Basic things like replacing a button are super simple, but if you don’t know any sewing at all, you can find tutorials online that will demonstrate just about every sewing technique that you would want to learn.

I have a cabinet in my room where everyone knows to place anything they have that needs a sewing repair. It might be socks or tights, but usually are shirts that need buttons, pants that split in a seam, or something that needs to be tailored or patched. One son regularly gets his belt loops on the waist of his pants caught on door handles and they need to be reattached. Every so often I take out a pile, take out the sewing machine, and work through the necessary repairs.

My son really likes his pair of loafers, and wanted to continue wearing them even when the leather loop attached to the buckle detached, leaving the buckle hanging off to the side. I assumed I’d have to throw them away, but I took a look at them before doing so. I realized that the loops on each side had come unsewn, and thought I might be able to resew them.

I have a package of unusual needle sizes that are heavy duty, and found one that I was able to push through the leather. Less than ten minutes later, both sides of the loafer were sewn back on. If you look closely, you can see my repair but it’s not noticeable at a first glance. (The loose thread isn’t from my repair but I should snip it off.)

Why would I would waste time repairing these shoes, or fixing socks or tights? How much money am I really saving? It’s true that some things don’t cost that much. I can replace these shoes for 50 shekels on sale but although they aren’t expensive, ten minutes to save 50 shekels is still worth my time. If smaller items like socks are overall in good condition, I’ll fix those as well.

What about the time it takes? Aren’t I too busy for all of this stuff? Actually, these small repairs don’t take time out of my schedule since I take my sewing basket outside with me when I watch the kids play.

For the items that need the sewing machine, I wait until I have a pile – it could be two or three months – and then spend up to an hour repairing everything. That’s not a lot of time for what is usually at least seven to ten items of clothing.

Start to look at your items needing to be repaired with an appraising eye, and challenge yourself to repair an item that you would have in the past gotten rid of.

Do you do your own sewing repairs? If not, why not?

Avivah

How to track your money

>> Avivah, could you share more details about how you track and budget? It’s one of those things we know we should be doing but never do. I’d love to get a better handle on tracking and budgeting, but even the idea overwhelms me. <<

I so much understand this! The more time that’s gone by without tracking, the more overwhelming it feels.

There’s a huge emotional relief that comes when you get clarity about what’s going on with your money. Even when you think it doesn’t make a difference to you not knowing how much you spend on what, there’s an energy drain from ignoring something that you know you should be paying attention to.

Get ready to do some homework – give yourself a week to get this done. Starting is the hardest part; once you’ve started, you’re on your way to bettering your financial situation so don’t put this off.

Step 1 – The first thing to do is to print out the last three months of your bank statements. Some people recommend twelve months and this is ideal since you can see your yearly spending pattern, but I think three months will give you a good idea and isn’t overwhelming.

You’re going to track two things: your income and your expenses. You can do this with pen and paper (that’s what I do) but a spreadsheet is a good option if you are inclined, and it’s nice to have the math done for you. Some people use budgeting apps; I’ve seen many recommendations for the YNAB (You Need a Budget) and Every Dollar trackers. They both have free versions. My husband once bought the paid version of YNAB and said it was very good, but obviously, it’s just a tool and if you don’t use it, it’s not going to help you. An advantage of the apps over a spreadsheet is the interface with banks in the US but I don’t know of apps that interface with Israeli banks. (If you know of any, please share that with us in the comments!)

Step 2 – Make a list of whatever income you have – salary, freelance, child benefits, disability payments, alimony, etc. Add that up and write your total income for the month, for each of the three months.

Step 3 – Now make a list of all of your expenses. You have two kinds of expenses, fixed and variable. Fixed expenses are fairly stable and predictable from month to month; variable expenses fluctuate from month to month.

Here’s a list of fixed expenses:

  • mortgage/rent
  • property tax
  • utilities – water, sewage, electricity, gas
  • insurance – car, life, house, health
  • communication – internet, phone, mobile services
  • building maintenance fee (vaad bayit)
  • tuition
  • day care/babysitter
  • extracurricular activities/tutoring
  • house cleaner
  • therapies
  • bank fees
  • debt repayment

Variable expenses:

  • food
  • take out/restaurants
  • baby supplies – diapers, etc
  • pet supplies
  • makeup/cosmetic procedures
  • haircuts
  • medical expenses
  • dental expenses
  • home maintenance
  • car expenses – repairs and maintenance
  • gas (for car)
  • transportation – buses, trains, tolls
  • clothing/shoes
  • computer maintenance
  • appliance/furniture purchases
  • holiday expenses
  • gifts
  • vacation

These aren’t going to include every possible expense, so add your own category if you find something that you spend on isn’t included above.

Now, total up the expenses in each category for each of the three months. Then total all of the monthly expenses for each month to get a total for your monthly spending.

You’ve done it – you’ve faced your worries about what you’re going to find, and you’ve tracked your expenses. Now give yourself a huge pat on the back for your accomplishment!

Once this is done, you’ll have solid information to work with to create your budget.

Is there anything that surprised or discouraged you? Don’t worry about it. This is just a starting place. There’s plenty of change possible to get you where you want to go.

Make a commitment to get this done in the next week. You may dread thinking about it but once it’s done it will be a relief and it will really help you.

Avivah

The little stuff really makes a difference

Everyone wants to hear about a hack that will save them thousands a month. But there are very, very few suggestions like that out there.

If you want to cut your expenses, there are almost endless ways to do so. The problem is the small things seem so small and inconsequential that most people think it’s not worth their time and effort.

The truth is the little details add up and add up and add up. I can think of so many small things I do, and each one by itself doesn’t seem like it matters, but my ability to save as much as I do is a result of these small things combined.

I love frugality. I think it’s an incredible tool and for me it’s been expansive and empowering. It’s so unfortunate when people look at frugality as deprivation and doing without. That’s not what it’s meant to be and I understand the avoidance a person may feel if that’s what they think it’s going to be for them.

Frugality is about knowing what you want and spending your money on what matters most to you, so you can have the quality of life that you desire.

For example, for us it was really important that I stay home with our children, and I’ve been home full-time for the last 28 years even when we’ve had a very modest income. Many people will tell you that you need two incomes to make it, especially with a large family. Frugality made it possible for us to have the luxury of a big family, avoid debt and have a rich quality of life.

Your money is like a leaky faucet. Those little drips of water seem like a small amount, but they will run up your water bill quite a bit! And if you save those little bits of leaking money, over time it adds up to your benefit.

We were working with a small budget and a large family for a long time and as the years have gone by, our income has gradually gone up and our resources have grown. It’s been like a slow moving snowball that picks up more and more speed as it continues downhill. I wouldn’t be where I am now without all of those small, consistent steps, day after day, year after year.

Consistent small actions will lead to big results. I couldn’t have imagined a few years ago that we would have been able to pay off as much of our mortgage as we have – I mentioned how much we have left to one of my married sons last night and he was taken aback by how small the amount was – but we kept putting extra towards the principal and it’s been exciting and almost magical to see the loan amount and loan length melting away.

I’m going to write about different frugal suggestions and tips, and encourage you to think about what you can apply to your own lives. Everything won’t be for everyone but don’t make the mistake of dismissing the suggestions as not being big enough to make a difference. They absolutely will add up. As the saying goes, “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.”

Avivah


Track your money, budget your money

I haven’t been actively budgeting in recent months so I’ve spent some time in the last couple of days remedying that.

Though I haven’t been budgeting, what I have been doing is tracking our expenses. Tracking is knowing what goes in and out of your account, and is something you must do to be a good steward of your money.

Here are a few things I noticed when tracking our expenses:

Last month I noticed that our mortgage payment went up 630 shekels – and our mortgage is fixed so it shouldn’t have gone up at all. I looked into it and for some reason the bank started charging us for home insurance – despite having a different insurance provider since 2023. When our insurance agent checked this for us, it showed that our paperwork was all in order and the necessary notifications had been made to the bank long ago, so we’ll get our money back. But if I didn’t track our expenses, the bank would have continued to automatically deduct this amount every month for years.

This week I noticed that a transfer I made to a different bank didn’t show up. It turns out that there were two account numbers and I sent it to the wrong one – I corrected that and the money is now in the right place.

Two weeks ago I saw that money that was supposed to be reimbursed to us by the health clinic hadn’t come in by the latest date they told me to expect. I went back into their office, and within two days the outstanding 850 shekels was in our account.

Several months ago, the horseback riding stable we had one meeting with charged us for three lessons for two children (ie six total lessons), and one lesson for another – hundreds of shekels for lessons that never took place. I got that refunded as well, and moved the kids to a different ranch for lessons.

A couple of months into the academic year, I noticed one of the tuitions wasn’t being deducted. My husband called the yeshiva and let them know they hadn’t activated the automatic withdrawal plan we had set up. If we hadn’t realized that, at some point they would have realized we weren’t paying and we would have accrued a high outstanding balance.

My husband once ordered an Adobe product. Months later, we were still being charged a monthly fee of 45 shekels for something he had forgotten about and never used – he cancelled it and we’re no longer being charged that fee.

We have another ongoing monthly expense, a charitable donation for a cause that we committed to for a year – I don’t know how long we’ve been donating for but it’s been a lot longer than that. I was glad to contribute initially but now I’d like to shift our giving to a different cause.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of things that I found, but some examples of the kind of things that come up when you track your money. What you learn when you track your expenses can save you a lot of money.

Ideally tracking includes tallying the total spent each month in each area of spending (eg, food, utilities, clothing, health, leisure, etc) so you know what you are spending your money on.

In October we reached the financial goal I shared with you last year, which was to pay off the smaller but higher interest loan of our two mortgages. (When we refinanced the track that was adjustable to a fixed rate, the two tracks of the mortgage were separated into two loans rather than one). It was an ambitious goal and tracking was critical to our success, because I controlled for the expenses that would have otherwise drizzled out with nothing to show for them, and all of that extra money in addition to the savings went to the principal of our mortgage loan.

Now I’m thinking about what I want to set as the next financial goal. It might be paying off the second mortgage loan, it might be putting it towards something more investment oriented. I’m still reflecting on that; there are pluses and minuses and I have to confront my own conservative tendencies and ask myself if that’s serving me as well as possible. Whatever I end up doing, it will benefit our finances for me to tighten up my money management even more and actively budget our money.

Let me share with you what the difference is between the two. Tracking is noting all of your expenses after the money is spent, and knowing how much you spend in each area.

Tracking is a critical preliminary step to getting your finances in order. If you’re not tracking, it’s likely you don’t have an accurate ideal of where your money is going and your money is leaking out.

Once you’ve tracked your spending, budgeting is the next step. Budgeting is looking forward, and determining how much you’ll spend in each area for the coming month. When our finances didn’t have much wiggle room, I had to carefully budget and there was no such thing as not having a budget established in advance. There’s no way we would have avoided going into debt and had an expansive life without being very on top of the details.

Budgeting is when you ask yourself, “Although I’ve spent a certain amount in a category in the past, is this really the amount I need to spend? Can I trim my expenses in that area and funnel the difference into savings? If so, what amount do I choose to allot for each area that will allow me to meet my financial goals?”

Tracking shows that I spend a certain amount of money each month on food. Budgeting is when I decide to spend the amount I want to spend, and to do whatever I need to do to keep my spending limited to that amount.

Budgeting feels very different than tracking; it’s proactive, intentional and powerful. It’s when you commit to yourself, “I’m going to set my goal and I’m going to reach it!” A good budget is a wonderful financial tool. I’m setting some parameters in my budget that will challenge me and am looking forward to seeing if I can jump over what feels like a high bar that I set.

Avivah