Summer finance management

Well, it's that time again to start thinking about good financial management. If you've been hanging around JumpStart for very long, you know that come summer time, that's when we start saving big on the electric bill. Yep, you guessed it; we're hanging our laundry!

Our heating bill is pretty expensive during the winter months so saving on the electric bill during summer really pays during the winter months because it means we can afford to keep the house nice and toasty warm.

The key though, is that in the budget I've made up, I don't change how much I'm allocating (setting aside) for the electric bill. This way, I'll be putting more money into the "Electricity fund" each month than is really needed to pay the bill. This way, when I get the steep electric bill come winter time, it's not a problem to pay for it.

It's a pretty simple exercise but an example of sound finance management. This principle can be applied to so many different things but is especially relevant to seasonal expenses like gas or electricity.

I'd thought about putting up a photo of us hanging laundry to prove we really do this but I'm not sure that the whole world really wants to see that, let alone my wife!

As we go through summer this year, I'll post more finance management tips in addition to those that we actually use in order to manage our money. Hopefully you'll find them just as useful as we have!