Yesterday the propane tank was filled and no one panicked. We live in a rural area (not for much longer, but the big move is a whole different story). Our forced air furnace runs on propane and several times a year the tanks need to be filled. We have a big tank that feeds our furnace and another small one that feeds our gas log fireplace.
Last week Jim noticed that our fuel tank was getting a little bit low. He placed a call to the propane supplier and yesterday the propane tank was filled. Seeing the bill tucked in our door wasn’t cause for panic. Why? Because we both knew we had cash set aside in our “gas fund” envelope that would take care of the bill.
This morning when I pulled out the cash from our envelope it struck me how grateful I was that we have the cash set aside. Years before, when we were not budgeting our money, we would be angst ridden looking at this large bill. (Luckily propane prices have dropped dramatically in the past years; before we would have been looking at a bill around $900.).
Being able to pull the cash we have budgeted monthly for the gas bill made me thankful. If you budget, you know what I am talking about.
If you don’t use a strict written budget you may panic when a bill like this arrives. I totally get it. That is why I am writing this post I guess, to share with you what changed our lives and how we plan ahead.
Our budgeting story
We learned our fine tuned budget techniques when we hopped aboard the Dave Ramsey plan. It was life changing and his plan has helped us to make major positive life changes and dump debt. We detailed what we learned during the 9 week Financial Peace University class. FPU taught us that you need to tell your money what to do, with intention. It taught us you need to make sacrifices to get control of your debt and conquer it. Using the tools we learned, now we set aside a certain amount of cash for bills every money, including the propane gas bill. This cash accumulates and then when the bill arrives it is simply a matter of taking the money we have set aside and making the payment.
If you want to learn more about our personal experience, check out our FPU stories here. If you want to learn more about Dave Ramsey and his class or books, check out the Dave Ramsey website. You can listen to his 3 hour radio show live or listen to past shows on your phone or computer. Take the 9 week live class!
If you have questions, let us know. We’d love to help if we can, and urge you to take control of your money. It is life changing. (And here is info on how we budget)
