How to Create Your Own Family Balance Sheet

My husband and I try to meet to discuss our finances on a monthly basis. We review our spending, our cash flow and our Family Balance Sheet.

Since I manage the finances for my family, I created our Family Balance Sheet as a way to communicate with my husband about our family and business finances. I wanted something on one piece of paper where I could show him our short-term and long-term savings account balances and our debt balances. I also wanted a reminder through out the year of what our short-term and long-term financial goals are. It is one thing to discuss goals in January, but if we aren't reminded regularly, we could lose sight of the big picture and what we are working so hard for.

I pair this sheet with a Quicken print-out of our monthly spending by category.

The form is not time-consuming. I simply enter the balances as I get my monthly statements. It is not elaborate either and very easy to understand.




The first section recaps our assets and liabilities. The Asset portion is column B - D, and the Liabilities portion is E - H.

• Column A = Name of Account
• Column B = Balance
• Column C = Target Balance
• Column D = Difference between the target balance and the actual balance. How much do we need to save to get to our target.
• Column E = Monthly debt payment
• Column F = Loan balance
• Column G = final due date of the loan
• Column H = Interest rate or finance charge
• Column I = Statement date where I got the balances

The second section is for Financial Goals. How much do we want to reduce debt by? Do we need to replenish our emergency savings? What home improvements need to be done? Every home has different short-term financial goals.

The third section is for long-term financial goals, trips we would like to take, retirement aspirations, anything in the 2 year and beyond category. This is the big picture, the forest or where we get to dream a little.

My husband and I are meeting to discuss finances this weekend. We will both go into the meeting with an agenda, but I bring the numbers to the table for us to analyze. How much or how little did we spend in January? Where did we over-spend? What's on the horizon that we need to save for - car repair, household repair? What can we do to add some income? What can we do to reduce some spending? It is a time to hash out any differences or make some bold plans so that we can achieve a particular goal.

I always look forward to these meetings even though they aren't always fun to have. It is not always easy to look at the balances on both sides of the page.

How often do you review your finances, whether alone or with your partner?

To any interested readers: I will send you a FREE attachment of the Excel spreadsheet for you to create your own Family Balance Sheet. It will be blank, but have the formulas. You will be able to add additional rows if needed.

Please email me at familybalancesheet at gmail dot com and I will email you the file within 3 business days of your request.

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Family Balance Sheet

Chicken, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas

I saw this recipe in a Rachael Ray magazine years ago and I have been making it regularly ever since. It is fast and tasty and another meal my kids love. The recipe only has 5 ingredients, how easy is that?

Chicken, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas
found in Rachael Ray magazine

• 1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium or large sweet potato
• shredded cheddar cheese - your favorite flavor
• 10 inch tortillas
• Makes 3 - 5 quesadillas, depending on how much you fill each one.

You can cook the chicken a number of ways for this recipe. I have used leftover roasted chicken in the past, but on this day, I put 2 frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot in the morning with 1/2 cup of water and some fiesta seasoning. I let it cook for about 6 hours on low. Be careful not to over cook which will dry out chicken. Once cooked, shred with two forks.


Peel and cut up sweet potato and cook in boiling water until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the sweet potato and return to pan. Add the drained and rinsed black beans and mash...



until you get to the desired consistency.

Spread the sweet potato and black beans over a tortilla.

Layer with chicken and cheese...

Top with another tortilla.

I have a panini press, but you don't need one. Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray and turn on medium heat. Place quesadilla in pan and press down. This is where the press comes in handy, but again not necessary. Cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using your biggest spatula, flip the quesadilla carefully. Cook the other side for about 2 minutes, until golden brown.

This one got a little crispy, but we still gobbled it up.

This one is just right...

Add your favorite sides, like sour cream and salsa and ENJOY!

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This post is linked to:

• 5 Dollar Dinners
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace

The January Spending Diet and The Eat From The Pantry Challenge = SUCCESS

I challenged myself twice in January.

For the first challenge, we went on another spending diet in January. We had a successful spending diet in October and I decided that after the holidays we needed to diet again. I just wanted to let the dust settle from the holidays.

My goal with the spending diet was simple...avoid miscellaneous spending. I didn't want to spend any money except for essentials. I stayed out of the stores and only came upon one conflict with not spending.

My four year old has had a growth spurt. Most of the clothes that we got her back in September for fall and winter have now become too small and too short. If you remember I also challenged myself for 2010 to shop second hand for myself and if possible my kids. I looked in two second hand stores, with not too much success on things her size that looked in decent condition and that she liked and would wear. So, I headed to The Children's Place and Old Navy for their clearance sales. I spent about $40 on clothes for my daughter, at prices ranging from $2.99 for a new winter hat(even her head grew) and $9.99 for a 'shirt with a bow' that she fell in love with. One nice thing about spending money on clothes for my oldest daughter is that I can save them for my second daughter.

The second challenge was the 'Eat From The Pantry Challenge' that I participated in along with many other bloggers. It was hosted by Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom.

My goal with the Eat From the Pantry Challenge was to reduce our grocery savings to $300 from our budget of $400. I decided that the difference from our actual spending and our budget of $400 would be split with half going into our savings and half going to a local food bank. My freezer and pantry are not quite as stocked as many of the other women participating. I didn't have too much chicken or turkey in my freezer to begin with so I knew when those items were going to be on sale in January, I would have to take advantage of the sale and I did.

So how did we do...

Our grocery spending in January came in at $ 290.01 for the month. I came in under our goal of $300 with $10 to spare. Honestly I don't know when I have ever spent that little on groceries.

Our total household spending was reduced by $250, with $110 of that being from groceries. The balance was from just not spending on frivolous and miscellaneous stuff.

This week, I will write a check for $55 and send it to a food bank in our town. The other half I have decided to send to Haiti instead of putting in our savings account. I will find another way to fund our savings account, right now those people in Haiti need that money more than we do.

How did you do in January? Did you go on a spending diet? Did you eat from your pantry? I would love to hear about your month, your successes and your challenges.


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Your Garden Harvest: What's Left In Your Freezer?

We made smoothies this week with the last of the strawberries that I picked back in June. I was so bummed, because I am going to miss opening up that bag of frozen berries and smelling fresh, local goodness and strawberry season is a five months away.

In a panic, I ran downstairs to see how much frozen homemade applesauce is still in the freezer and luckily I have 7-32oz containers left. Although I was calculating how I will ration the sauce between now and when we have fresh, local fruit again. My kids eat homemade applesauce like it is candy. It tastes as good as candy, but better.

I really don't have too much left from our summer harvest. We have a very small garden and we get a lot of our veggies from a CSA, so we eat most of our summer harvest at harvest time. I do try to preserve, mostly by freezing, whatever I can. I have 4 containers of pureed roasted butternut squash and one container of roasted vegetable sauce, but that's it...yikes.

It is only January and garden harvest season on the east coast or at least my house on the east coast is several months away.

Whether you can or freeze, do you have much left from your garden harvest?


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Financial Goals: Do You See The Forest Through The Trees?

When it comes to your financial goals, do you think BIG? Do you allow yourself to dream about the possibilities that are out there when the debt is paid off or your income has increased?

Or is the road that leads to the forest too daunting of a task to tackle?

It's sometimes hard for me and my husband to allow ourselves to think big. But what happens when we don't allow it?

If we want to be debt free, then we have to live like we want to be debt free, not just think "oh that would be nice some day".

Our financial goals might look like yours: pay down the debt, increase our emergency savings, save money for short term goals, save money for retirement, set aside money for our kids' education, travel, renovate the house, blah, blah, blah...and buy a camper...that last one might not be on your list ;).

Our list is large, long and intimidating, but if we don't have a plan, it will just stay at what it is...a list.

What do we need to do to get to the forest ahead of us? Action steps are needed and a plan needs to be developed. We need to tackle one tree at a time and maybe the forest will be ours.

Oh honey, I know you are reading this...are you in???

To my readers: What does your forest look like and how are you going to get there?

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This post is linked to:

• Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things

Image: dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net