I am mostly blogging this so I can have the first spot on the blog for more than 5 minutes (back off Arta).
With a desire to be better about my finances this year, I went out on the web looking for 7 habits to financial responsibility (I knew there had to be somethign out there). Here's what I found:
http://moneyning.com/frugality/7-habits-of-highly-frugal-people/
My first step?
Write down every penny I spend in the little day book I got from Eric Jarvis as a Christmas gift.
Step two?
Begin with the end in mind -- make some realistic acheiveable goals.
Here's some thoughts on that one: The end? No credit card debt and savings account with actual money in it.
1. pay off credit cards
2. generate an "unplanned expenses" savings account with $2000 -- use this instead of credit card when unexpected expenses highjack me.
3. start a "holiday" account to save up for the summer -- use this intead of credit card to pay for holidays.
What will the rest of you be doing?
I have already declared what I am doing -- going after that Excel Chart from Suze Orman and doing about the same thing you are doing -- tracking every cent. I notice she makes people do that before they come on her show so she can answer a question for them like, "Can I afford this?" I don't know why that makes me laugh. I don't like the question when I ask it of myself.
ReplyDeleteAbout day books. Would love to have you describe yours. I use a Brownline 2012 Day at a Time. Have used this format for years. I am trying to convert Bonnie to it, but I notice that their Week-at-a-time has been working better for her. Probably a matter of personal taste. At the back of this book is a page for tracking personal expenses (or any kind of money spending). One page for every month. Have found that I never spend more than I can get onto that page, which is good. And it has some pages for long-term, yearly planning -- so I can track where I will be and where others will be. Like ... take Rebecca ... who knows where she is going to be next year. She is so all over the map. I tried to use Google Calendar last year. I couldn't get it going / working for me. Maybe I will give that another shot. I think the problem for me was I just didn't give myself enough time in it. Mmmm. Might try that again.
Arta