One of the items on my list of 52 is to keep a budget for the year which, to me, means keeping track of every penny we spend... Since we moved into our house in July of 2009 it feels like we have had non-stop expenses. Some stuff has been fun (furniture, yard remodel, new oven & gas cooktop etc.) other stuff, not so fun (insulation, rebuilding the chimney, windows, fences etc.). We did make a deal when we moved in that we would never do anything to the house that we could not pay cash for and have stuck to that. However, at the end of the year we sat down and added up all the "home improvement" we could remember and I puked a little in my mouth when we saw the total. So what this means is that I will probably have my funky fresh 1985 kitchen for a while... (pink flowered linoleum is super cool right :)
We are saving all receipts for every purchase and I have created a handy spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I am so curious to see what we spend money on. I know our basic expenses, mortgage, insurance, cable etc. but have absolutely no idea what we spend on gas or food or anything like that. I do have to say that knowing I have to write things down has been a huge deterrent from my random trips to Nordstrom, Target and Starbucks... I am going to pat myself on the back right now for making it 22 days without a single stop at Starbucks (I have not even cheated and gotten one at a grocery store Starbucks so I could file the receipt in the grocery section :). I am just a little competitive and don't want to be the one coming forward with $85 worth of Starbucks receipts at the end of the month! Hopefully we can keep it up for the entire year and maybe then I can talk about some new kitchen floors!!!
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This is so awesome, GREAT job!! I don't do it for my family, but at work I take care of my grandpa's personal finances and I use quickbooks! It's so easy and it's great because you can classify everything!! I really need to use it at home, thanks for some extra motivation! Don't forget to allow yourself some of life simple pleasures like a latte though...maybe just get a tall instead of a grande. As moms we have to let ourselves enjoy little indulgences, we certainly deserve it:-))
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