This is the followup to yesterdays post. I guess since I asked you to track your spending for a month I really should post this in a month. But it is my blog and I'll do what I want.
So now you have an idea of were your money goes. If you are anything like me you found some surprising if no terrifying results. I was spending between four to five hundred dollars a month on eating out. That and random unplanned purchases are where the most of my money went. Unplanned purchases are when you are wandering through a store and just see something and buy it, fifty dollars for this video game, buy a couple of shirts, etc. I was losing another hundred to two hundred dollars a month on unplanned purchases.
So before I worried about a budget I determined to cut out the waste. I first figured out a clever way to deal with unplanned purchases. I didn't allow myself to buy anything. I could not purchase anything that was not essential. Eventually I allowed myself to buy things If I had saved up the money. This removed the temptation to buy things when just out and about. I didn't have to argue with myself over whether I should or should not buy something. There was no discussion just no. I am not good with subtlety. I need black and white decision making.
You can see my need for black and white in my handling of eating out. I allowed myself a couple of times out a week. Very quickly I was back to spending four hundred dollars a month. Guess you can't win them all.
So now you have an idea of were your money goes. If you are anything like me you found some surprising if no terrifying results. I was spending between four to five hundred dollars a month on eating out. That and random unplanned purchases are where the most of my money went. Unplanned purchases are when you are wandering through a store and just see something and buy it, fifty dollars for this video game, buy a couple of shirts, etc. I was losing another hundred to two hundred dollars a month on unplanned purchases.
So before I worried about a budget I determined to cut out the waste. I first figured out a clever way to deal with unplanned purchases. I didn't allow myself to buy anything. I could not purchase anything that was not essential. Eventually I allowed myself to buy things If I had saved up the money. This removed the temptation to buy things when just out and about. I didn't have to argue with myself over whether I should or should not buy something. There was no discussion just no. I am not good with subtlety. I need black and white decision making.
You can see my need for black and white in my handling of eating out. I allowed myself a couple of times out a week. Very quickly I was back to spending four hundred dollars a month. Guess you can't win them all.
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