Monday, January 10, 2011

Today's fortune: January 11, 2011

Today's fortune: Reaffirm your faith in financial plans - make a budget.
This most logical of fortunes has been on my mind today, because it seems that everybody talks about budgeting their finances, but I wonder how many people actually do.

In the strictest sense of the word, we don't keep a budget.

We know approximately how much our bills are and we know approximately how much is coming in each month. We also know our income should be quite a bit greater than our output.

Yet... Jamie and I are having a very difficult time saving money. Besides our house and Jamie's student loans, we don't have much debt, which is good. But we haven't been able to sock money away.

I'm not sure where the difference between our income and our output goes. Actually, yeah I do: we piss it away. A dollar here, ten bucks here, twenty there. Seems like two people can't eat dinner out for less than thirty-five bucks, and cooking isn't any cheaper (although I think we both perpetuate the myth that it is) - seems like every time I go to the grocery store, even if it's just to get ingredients for one meal, I drop 75 dollars.

A budget is a lot of work. But I know it would help control our spending. If we can actually see where the money is going each month, we'd be a lot more likely to cut back.

And we could all use to cut back... couldn't we? Even if you're independently wealthy and you can spend as much as you want, that doesn't mean you should.

So that's it. I'm going to budget our finances. I think the end goal of our new family budget should be to save money. I already have a figure in mind, and I'm giving myself a deadline of Dec. 1, 2011, to reach that goal. I'm not going to share that figure here; I've been pretty open about my life on this blog, but I think my bank account is going to stay off-limits.

And I already have something in mind I'm saving up for.

But that's a secret, too.

6 comments:

  1. Are you saving for another tattoo? Maybe " Let go slowly" for the other wrist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. $75 on one home-cooked meal?! Where are you shopping?!? lol

    Try eating leftovers. Sometimes they're better tasting than Day One.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Start budgeting for the Mega Millions windfall coming your way!

    ReplyDelete