Is one of your goals for 2023 to finally start budgeting?
It’s one of those areas you say you will get to but never seem to follow through. You don’t know where to start or what you might need. You aren’t sure if a budget book would work for you, maybe it seems like a lot of work.
Getting your budget in order can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be!
Erin Condren has come out with a new line of budgeting tools and sent me a box to check out, review, and give you my thoughts. You can grab your own items over on Erin Condren! Affiliate link. I will receive a commission if you purchase. I will always give you my honest opinion whether I am sent a product or purchase it myself.
At first sight, the Budget File Folders Calendar isn’t very impressive. It’s a wall calendar, nothing special right? Wrong! Each month is also a file folder that you can tear off and file away. Perfect for storing all those receipts you need to turn over to your accountant at the end of the year.
You could use the calendar to track your paydays and bills due plus there is plenty of room on the back side to track expenses or mileage if you drive for work/business. The back side also has a budget overview so you can see how much you spent each month.
This is definitely one to get if you have a lot of receipts or other papers you want to keep track of each month.
You also get a sheet of stickers at the very back of the calendar. I give it ☕☕☕☕ out of five, losing a coffee only because the folder tears off a tad too easily. My January is already coming off from flipping through for videos/photos. This may not be an issue if you aren’t manhandling it!
If wall calendars aren’t your thing you can also choose from the A5 Budget Planner in a coil or ring agenda. Currently, the ring agenda version is only available with the agenda. You cannot purchase only the inserts. Both versions are exactly the same inside so it really is which you prefer.
You get 12 months of budgeting plus eight each of savings trackers, debt trackers, and special occasion budget pages. The planner is undated so you can start it anytime. The only drawback is you don’t get a monthly planner inside to track your paydays and bills. There is a bills/financial dates and deadlines list on the dashboard where you could put them but really a calendar view would be better if you need a visual version.
The dashboard also has boxes for “restock on” and “larger purchases”. If you don’t need these you could easily cover them with stickers and give them your own titles. The other side of the dashboard has a large box for your month’s financial goals. I don’t think it is large enough to draw in a calendar. There is also a to-do list and blank box. Overall the dashboard is fairly flexible and could be adjusted to fin your needs.
The Monthly Overview is on the next two pages and it is great that you can see all your budget categories next to each other. The older A5 inserts are back to back and it can be a pain to flip back and forth. After the monthly overview, you get six weekly spending logs. You could easily use one for checking, one for credit card, one for your spouse, etc instead of weekly.
If you were creative, you could use four (or however many paychecks you have) of the weekly spending logs to budget by paycheck with the other two as your expense trackers.
At the beginning of the planner and after each quarter there are goal planning and check-ins, with the last one being a longer 12-month check-in. I would give the planner ☕☕☕☕1/2 out of five coffees because I’d still love to see a calendar view, even if it was blank and we had to fill it in. I also would love to see the inserts available without the agenda. Maybe next year.
I also received a handful of accessories.
First, the Flora Budget Accordion File would be another great place to stash receipts. You could also use this to hold your cash envelopes. Or to hold stickers. There are 12 sections in it. ☕☕☕☕☕out of five.
Second, the A5 Ring Agenda Budget Tracker Dashboard has room on the front for 13 bills to be tracked monthly while the backside is split between a savings and debt tracker. You could also track your budget category spending instead of bills. It is wet erase so at the end of the year, wipe off with water and start again! ☕☕☕☕☕out of five.
Maybe you don’t need a full budget planner but want to track your spending? Check out the Weekly Budget Tracker Notepad! There is room for your weekly budget and goal as well as debt paid down, added to savings, and next week’s budget. This would also work great for holiday budgeting or other special occasions! ☕☕☕☕☕out of five.
Next up is the Budget Dual-Tip List Markers. Each marker has a fine tip at one end and a stamp at the other. You get a circle, check, asterisk, and piggy bank all with black ink, an envelope (red ink), and a dollar sign (jade ink). ☕☕☕out of five. These are a great idea but the stamps take a little manipulation to get on the paper and the piggy bank, check, envelope, and dollar sign are hard to line up correctly.
The Budget Functional Sticker Book comes with a ton of stickers in a variety of options to track your budget. The book has both warm and cool tones stickers. They are absolutely beautiful! ☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕ out of five.
Erin Condren has a lot of options to meet your budget needs. Want to see a video version of this review? Head over to YouTube. Be sure to subscribe as these products will be making an appearance in future videos and you can see how they will work with a real budget!
What items from the new budget collection are you most interested in? Which are you hoping to pick up?
Looking for budgeting and financial challenges or support system? Check out the Runs on Planning group because we will be getting our budgets in line in 2023!
