Planning for 2014

It may seem odd that I'm writing to you about 2014 right now, in June of 2013.  But really it's not that odd.  

The reason I bring it up is because today my husband and I put some things on the calendar for 2014.  Not big, huge, amazing things.  But things that require a little money.  So immediately after we put those things on the calendar, I then put them in our budget, because a couple years ago I learned a valuable lesson:

$$$ ÷ now = $$$

...but...

$$$ ÷ time = $

I wrote a little more about it in this post.  The concept is called "sinking funds" and it's so simple, it's brilliant.  You start putting a little money away now for future commitments (annual bills, trips, big purchases) so that when you need to write the check for the large amount later, it doesn't hurt.

Seriously, I encourage you to start doing this.  Keep it simple and pull out some envelopes, write next years plans on them, and start putting a small amount in them each month.  Or transfer it into another bank account, separate from your regular checking account, and record it in a notebook.  One day you'll be glad you did.  

Like in 2014.