My husband, The Accountant, has been with his company for three years now. In that time, I have had the pleasure of meeting some really great people, other accountants, in fact. I have met brand new baby accountants who have only been at their job for about a year and I have met controllers (the papa bears of the accounting department) who have 20+ years of experience and I've met some people in between too. Most of them share all of the same qualities and have a lot in common. No, it isn't just the fact that they needed six calculators to make it through college or that they can cruise through Microsoft Excel like a Cadillac down a quiet, country road. Its a mentality. Its a frugal, money-saving mentality. There is a lot that can be learned from this.
In fact, at the annual Christmas party last year, another accountant's wife and I joked about how cheap our husbands are. I told her that my husband watches TLC's Extreme Cheapskates to get new ideas on how to save money. Then, he will often turn to me and say, "Honey, that's a really great idea!" She also shared humorous penny-pinching stories about her husband and seemed to understand that when money was spent in their home, it was done very very carefully.
Therefore, in order to be frugal with money like most accountants are, we need to think like an accountant. Here is how my husband, The Accountant, uses his knowledge and experience for our own personal finances.
1) Everything Needs to be Budgeted
Up until a few years ago, we never had a budget for anything. It just makes life so chaotic when you do not account for where your money is going or have a certain dollar amount in mind with your spending. If I give $5 to The Boy Scouts outside of the grocery store, I write it down. I write down every penny that we spend. You would really be surprised how "small" expenses add up quickly. Also, The Accountant and I have weekly budget meeting every Saturday morning over our breakfast while our children sleep. We talk about all the money we spent this week and how we're doing at hitting our budgeted estimates. We also talk about future expenses that we are going to need to address soon.
2) Everything Has a Cost
When we're planning on doing anything, from a vacation to taking our family to the movies, we consider the total cost of everything. Yes, I mean everything. This total cost includes food, gas, taxes, admission prices to the event, etc. Then, we think about how we can cut down on those costs. Sometimes, we eat dinner just before we go anywhere. Sometimes, we combine errands. Sometimes, we shop closer to home. Sometimes, when we're really trying to save money, we have to say no.
3) The Return on Investment or The ROIs
This means that when we spend money on an item, we want to get our money out of it. We want to get as much, if not more, money back than what we initially spent on the purchase. For example, we bought The Accountant, a pair of really nice hair clippers for $40 so that he could start cutting his own hair. A cheap haircut at Best Cuts costs about $13. Therefore, The Accountant, only needs to use the hair clippers about three times for this investment to "pay for itself." He has cut his own hair every 8 weeks for the past two years so we have most definitely seen a great ROI from this investment.
4) Financial Forecasting
This can best be seen within our budget in regards to our car insurance. It is cheaper if you pay for your car insurance every six months rather than paying for it on a month-by-month basis. At the same time, we budget for our car insurance each month so that we have enough money to pay for it when the bill comes. Just like a weather forecast, we are looking ahead to see what we need to pay for and planning for that, just as you would bring an umbrella when rain is expected. This is to avoid any shortcomings on our cash flow.
In fact, at the annual Christmas party last year, another accountant's wife and I joked about how cheap our husbands are. I told her that my husband watches TLC's Extreme Cheapskates to get new ideas on how to save money. Then, he will often turn to me and say, "Honey, that's a really great idea!" She also shared humorous penny-pinching stories about her husband and seemed to understand that when money was spent in their home, it was done very very carefully.
Therefore, in order to be frugal with money like most accountants are, we need to think like an accountant. Here is how my husband, The Accountant, uses his knowledge and experience for our own personal finances.
1) Everything Needs to be Budgeted
Up until a few years ago, we never had a budget for anything. It just makes life so chaotic when you do not account for where your money is going or have a certain dollar amount in mind with your spending. If I give $5 to The Boy Scouts outside of the grocery store, I write it down. I write down every penny that we spend. You would really be surprised how "small" expenses add up quickly. Also, The Accountant and I have weekly budget meeting every Saturday morning over our breakfast while our children sleep. We talk about all the money we spent this week and how we're doing at hitting our budgeted estimates. We also talk about future expenses that we are going to need to address soon.
2) Everything Has a Cost
When we're planning on doing anything, from a vacation to taking our family to the movies, we consider the total cost of everything. Yes, I mean everything. This total cost includes food, gas, taxes, admission prices to the event, etc. Then, we think about how we can cut down on those costs. Sometimes, we eat dinner just before we go anywhere. Sometimes, we combine errands. Sometimes, we shop closer to home. Sometimes, when we're really trying to save money, we have to say no.
3) The Return on Investment or The ROIs
This means that when we spend money on an item, we want to get our money out of it. We want to get as much, if not more, money back than what we initially spent on the purchase. For example, we bought The Accountant, a pair of really nice hair clippers for $40 so that he could start cutting his own hair. A cheap haircut at Best Cuts costs about $13. Therefore, The Accountant, only needs to use the hair clippers about three times for this investment to "pay for itself." He has cut his own hair every 8 weeks for the past two years so we have most definitely seen a great ROI from this investment.
4) Financial Forecasting
This can best be seen within our budget in regards to our car insurance. It is cheaper if you pay for your car insurance every six months rather than paying for it on a month-by-month basis. At the same time, we budget for our car insurance each month so that we have enough money to pay for it when the bill comes. Just like a weather forecast, we are looking ahead to see what we need to pay for and planning for that, just as you would bring an umbrella when rain is expected. This is to avoid any shortcomings on our cash flow.
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