Q: I’d love to see a glimpse of how you two plan and budget for projects. We both work full-time jobs and have a house that needs a lot of TLC. With our busy schedules, there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the weekend. That being the case, I’d love to see how you guys do it. -Lisa

A: One of the projects we have coming up in the near future is a guest room re-do. When we first got the house, we had no idea what our style was, and the current state of the guest room reflects a mix match of styles and left over furniture from our apartment. In light of that, we’re going to try to bring in the modern rustic style we’re aiming for with a plank wall (more on all of that here). Since this is one of the next projects we have up our sleeves, we’re going to use this as an example…

STEP 1 // TALK IT OUT. We’ve been talking about doing a plank wall for a long time, but this past weekend we finally sat down to officially plan it out. We usually try to sit down and talk about big projects like this together because A) this makes the lines of communication better when it comes time to actually do the project and B) two heads are better than one. Most of the time, Ash catches something I don’t or vice versa. We make a good team like that.

STEP 2 // MAKE A LIST. CHECK IT TWICE. Once we’ve talked through the project from A to Z, we make two lists: a to-do list and a need list. The to-do lists consists of the major steps we have to accomplish in order to get the project finished. The need list is everything we’re going to need for the project – right down the the very last drill bit. If we come across something we already have (in this case, we already have some stain, polyurethane and brushes on hand), we still write it down so we’ll be sure to double check we have enough before we take a trip to the hardware store.

STEP 3 // TAKE A PRE-SHOPPING TRIP. With our new “need list” in hand (with notes of what we already have), we like to take a quick pre-shopping trip to our local hardware store to check out the prices on stuff we aren’t sure about (like lumber and specific hardware). In our experience, we’ve learned that if you’re doing a larger project, getting a real price for everything is essential. If we were just buying one or two pieces of lumber, it wouldn’t be a big deal if we were off by a dollar or two. For the plank wall project, we’re buying 20+ pieces, so being off by $2 per board would mean we under- or over-budgeted by $40 – which may make a big difference in our budget for the project. Do that enough times over the course of a project, and things add up fast.

STEP 4 // BUDGET & SCHEDULE. Once step three is done, we have a good gist of how much things are going to cost, and we can get an accurate idea of how much the project total is going to be. That’s when we take a look over in our Finance Binder, get a good idea of what our finances look like and schedule a weekend that’s good for us financially and time-wise. Some bigger projects will take some saving up to do as we make it a point to pay cash for everything. That’s when we make a note in our binder to set aside X number of dollars for X project.

STEP 5 // GET TO WORK. If you’ve got everything properly planned, this really is the easy part – even for larger projects. You already know how much everything is going to cost, you’ve scheduled your time to the best of your ability, and you’ve got all the materials on hand and paid for. Just rock out, get it done and try to have fun.

I (especially) love knowing how things are going to go before I get into them, so planning ahead is great for my sanity. On top of that, if you’ve really done your homework, everything should be relatively stress-free. Sure, doing all the planning takes some time, but it’s great to be able to say, “Hey! I figured this might happen, and I have a fix,” when something goes wrong. It makes the whole process a thousand times less stressful.

Ashley here! After realizing our “system” is the same for all of our projects (even when we’re just decorating an area of the house), we came up with a fun and handy “DIY Project Worksheet”. You can download our design for free here. Each sheet prints two worksheets – making them the perfect size for stashing in your purse or folding in your wallet. Happy planning!

Lumber photo from here.

Over the past year, we’ve had a few requests for a peak into how we organize our finances. When we first got married, I was the one who kept track of the bills and made sure everything was paid on time. After a few months, the fact that I’m not much of a numbers gal started to catch up with me – and our checkbook. Things were fine, but not as smooth as we knew they could be. So, to prevent my brain from overheating too much, Greg took over the actual bill paying and the proverbial heavens have been rejoicing ever since.

Even though Greg is essentially the one who makes sure the bills are paid on time, together, over the last five years of marriage, we’ve finally come up with a system that works for us. We have a sit-down about once a month to go over the budget, set goals and make sure we’re on the right track dollars and cents wise. However, the main thing that keeps our finances in tact is, in the words of Blues Clues, a handy dandy notebook… errr binder. In that case, to answer the question, “How do you organize your finances?”, the best way would be to give you a tour of the binder…

In the front of the binder, we have a small notepad that houses all of our passwords for the online accounts (mortgage, cable, power, etc). It comes in really handy when you’re trying to remember 10+ passwords in your head. One of the benefits of keeping them in a separate small notepad is that if we’re going out of town for a while, we can just stash it away in a safe place – rather than the entire binder. All the information in the binder is pretty much useless without them. We also keep a few stamped envelopes for the few bills we still have to send through the mail. Seriously. Why can’t we just pay everything online?! In the zipper pouch are a few Sharpie pens, white out, and stickers for notes.

Being the obsessive organizer that I am, I had to make sure there was a place for absolutely all essential types of financial information we could possibly need on a regular basis. We divided the binder into eight sections: bills, accounts, budget, register, receipts, donations, investments, and taxes.

BILLS // In this section, we have a monthly bill check-list where we keep track of the bills we have to pay. In the first column, we have the day of the month the bill is due, followed by the type of bill, a note whether or not it’s an automated payment and then a box to check off when it’s been paid. We’ve been using this system for a while now and it’s very handy and an easy way to get a snapshot of your month-to-month finances at a glance. Click here to download the monthly check-list! Also in the section is a page to keep track of what we call “rogue bills” – like the once-in-a-blue-moon dentist bill.

ACCOUNTS // This is where we keep all of our account numbers on hand. This section was created out of the frustration when we’d call the cable company or the power company and they’d ask for our account number. Rather than fumbling for an old bill or having them look it up with our social security numbers, it’s all right here in this section. Oh, and we have “Mortgage 1″ and “Mortgage 2″ because we pay a “half-mortgage payment” every two weeks rather than a full payment just once a month. Doing this cuts down on the total interest we end up paying in the long run and essentially pays our mortgage off faster.

BUDGET // In this section, we keep track of the household budget. We also have a few sheets of blank paper for number-crunching or jotting down financial goals we’re wanting to reach in the near or distant future.

DONATIONS // This is where we keep receipts and other information about the donations we make to charitable organizations. It’s nice to have a place for those little slips they give you when you donate something to Good Will.

REGISTER // In the world of debit cards and online bill-paying, we rarely find ourselves using a check book, but there are still one or two annoying bills that refuse to go paperless. When we write a check, we note it in here (including the date, check number, payee, amount) to keep track of what will be coming out of the account. Once the check has cleared, we just put a little check mark beside the check number.

INVESTMENTS // Just like the accounts and donations sections, we keep information about our investments in this section. The most recent balances, account numbers, dividends, etc. are all handy right here.

RECEIPTS // This is where we keep a top-load page protector with important receipts of large purchases – just in case. These particular top-load page protectors are really handy because they have a flap on the top that prevents stuff from falling out – perfect for receipts. At the end of every month or so, I go through the receipts and get rid of the ones we don’t need to hang onto anymore. If it’s something that we need to keep long term – like the dining room table receipt that has to be kept with the warranty information – I end up filing it away.

TAXES // In this section, we have another top-load page protector where we stash W9s, W2s or other important papers that float in throughout the year that we’ll need come tax time. That way, when 2014 rolls around, we’ll have everything ready and waiting for our tax guy (whom we love… dearly).

This system works pretty well for us – it helps us stay organized and all the information we need is right at our fingertips. How do you guys keep everything straight? Does one person do the bills in your house, or is it a community effort? Talk to us in the comments!

Whoever invented paper towels should have a monument built in their honor. I love paper towels. To the point where if you asked me three things I would want with me on a deserted island, a roll of paper towels would be one of the three. Once in a while, we buy a bulk pack from Sam’s, but in most cases we pick up a triple-pack from the grocery store or even Walgreen’s. So,  yeah, around here, we go through them a lot. Well, this used to be the case…

Every few months, Greg and I have a little pow wow where we sit down and talk about places in our budget where we can save a little more money. Not only does it keep us on track, but it helps us keep the lines of communication open when it comes to the nickels and dimes. After all, the more money we save, the more money we can set aside for fun stuff (vacations, etc). Back in December, we decided to try pairing down on the number of cleaning products we I buy. My relationship with cleaning supplies is much like my relationship with lip gloss – if it looks cool, I buy it “to try it out”. On the top of the list of things to pair down were my beloved paper towels. We “guestimated” that we use at least 3 rolls a week – which,  yeah, seems like a lot considering it’s just us and Bentley.

To curb our my enthusiasm, we decided to challenge ourselves to use flour sacks rather then paper towels. They are affordable, you can find them pretty much anywhere (at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and even the Dollar Store) and after four months of using them, I am officially converted.

I have a small bin in the laundry room closet that’s specifically for dirty flour sacks. When one gets dirty, I rinse it out, toss it in the bin and once the bin is full, it’s time for a wash (and in reality, they are so affordable that if one gets super grimy, I can just toss it). They are durable and super absorbent – perfect for drying dishes, wiping down the countertops, or cleaning up small spills. Oh, and when you go to wash them, don’t use fabric softener. If you do, they won’t be as absorbent.

By adding flour sacks to my arsenal, we’re now down to 1 roll a week – sometimes less! That my friends, is a miracle. Not only have we successfully met the challenge, but we’ve saved money (around $352 a year to be exact), and a few trees in the process. It’s a win win!

Are you a flour sack convert too? Have any helpful, easy money saving tips? We’re all ears!

Paper towel image from here. Money image from here.