Grown-up Stuff: Managing Money

I feel sorry for my husband, I have learned all about managing money from my mother and she is terrible at saving money. Thankfully my dad is great with money but I didn't see his spending habits enough for them to rub off on me like hers did. (Although my dad did teach me about always making more than the minimum payment which is a great thing to learn before getting something you need to make payments on. Really.)

  

(I know my husband works hard for his money and he knows how much I appreciate everything he does for us and understands my problems for money and that I'm trying to fix them. He's the best husband ever basically)

OK so back to me being terrible with money... well I came up with a budget before my husband deployed BUT I did not know I was pregnant then. So anyway we ended up doing the Thrift Savings Plan (which I recommend every military family take advantage of when you or your spouse deploys!) and then we ended up buying a car because I had a two-door sports car, which I did not feel safe driving my baby bump around in (You'll come to learn that I am super paranoid about health and safety) and we would need a bigger car for when the baby comes anyway. So now we have this huge car payment because we're young and don't have a long credit history and I am having a hard time not spending money on baby items!

Well now it's time to really get back to being strict because we still have a little credit card debt to pay off and I'm moving back from my parent's house to the area around the Army base in about a month because I don't want to be way too pregnant to move by waiting until it's time for my husband to come home. So I have come up with a few ways to help myself from spending too much, especially on baby things...

1. Keep in mind that I don't need to buy everything right now that I still haven't had the baby shower so we might end up with everything we need without spending too much!
2. If I am going to buy anything for Ella it needs to be second hand; second hand items can be in great shape and for a really great deal! If I see anything that is a super good deal it's hard for me to not snag it, sometimes there are things that really are too good to pass up. 
1. There are many free resources for expecting military family members, check out the ACS nearest you! 
2. If you happen to be covered under an insurance other than Tricare see if they cover breast pumps!! I am still covered under my parent's insurance and they cover medela, ameda and several other great breast pumps which is another thing I can check off the registry. (Unfortunately Tricare does not cover breast pumps but I hear if you are qualified for WIC I hear they do have some pumps available for free or discounted)
3. NO MORE FAST FOOD! Not only is this a big way to save but it's also something I need to do to make myself healthier for baby. (I'm at week 22 and with my glucose test coming up I'm trying to change my diet to the Bradley Method Diet, it's super easy to follow and makes it easier for me to want to eat at home.)
4. My husband gets paid every two weeks so I have decided to take out a small amount of money to keep with me, and I'm going to leave my cards at home, so if I decide to spend I will only be able to spend that amount of money until the next paycheck. Have you ever tried paying for everything with cash instead of a card? It makes you not want to spend!
5. Refinancing our car after the 90 day mark is up. We got a discount for financing through the dealership so we decided to go with that and then we are going to refinance with our bank, USAA, after that time period is up. Also our car insurance payment will go down because different banks require different coverage amounts on new cars and USAA's is a little less than the bank we have now. 
6. Put money away into an account that you don’t use often, it’s easy to save money when you don’t think about that account.

OK now obviously there are many ways to save money and I don't want to ramble on forever. Sometimes it's difficult to find things that work for you when it comes to saving money and controlling your spending (especially when you grew up with a mother who buys things just because they're on sale and that rubs off on you) so share your favorite ways to manage money with me; your favorite budget, how you coupon, or learning to save while buying things for a new baby, I'm really interested in trying out new things! :)

P.S. I love using sites like Mint.com to help track where my money goes and so I can see all of our accounts in one place!