Last week, I wrote about motivation. Now that you have decided upon what your true financial motivation is (and discussed it with your partner), this week I have a reading assignment and a list of a few things you should get prepared.
I’m going to write about all kinds of budget tips but I really think this book is important for couples to read. It’s called Smart Couples Finish Rich
If you are really going to be committed to fixing your budget, you need to know the situation you are dealing with. This week, in addition to getting the book, you should start keeping track of your cash expenditures. Anytime you use cash or your debit card, keep track of what you are buying and spending. Carry around a little notebook if necessary. I’d recommend either setting up an Excel sheet or just a notebook paper, but either way, you should track everything. In addition, when you receive your credit card statement or pay bills, keep track of those expenses also. Within a month, you should know how much you spend by category. Here are a few categories I’d recommend tracking:
- Eating out
- Snacks/coffee
- Transportation
- Gasoline
- Heating oil/natural gas
- Electricity
- Cable
- Internet
- Cell phones
- Regular phones
- Child care
- Car maintenance/car
- Mortgage
- Insurance (car/life/home/umbrella)
- Taxes
- Entertainment
- Groceries
- Clothes
- Toys
- Health & Beauty
- Baby products
- Home products
At this point, you should just be keeping track. We’ll do more with this information later.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is very valuable advice – I’ve been doing just that – tracking expenses by categories – for almost three years now. The first few months were truly eye-opening – I couldn’t believe how much we spent on fast food and frivolous nonsense. Tracking really helped us to get on track and make significant progress towards paying off our debt, buying a house, and starting our family. I hope your readers will take it to heart and follow along!
well as a work at home, homeschooling, single mom I am looking forward to every column but I think the one that I am most interested in is this one, fix my budget. I am taking babysteps and on my way to getting it together but just from reading the beginnings I can see it is going to be very useful.