Do you honestly know where you money goes on any given day? An
activity we have in the Financial Wellness class is a one week ‘spending diary’.
In it you are supposed to list all the things you spend money on, Sunday
through Saturday. I challenge people to try it for a week and then take a good
hard look at where your money went and if there is anything you could change
for the better! I completed my own spending diary over the past week and here
is what I discovered about my spending habits.
Sunday
$0: Hooray!
No money was spent on Sunday. My husband and I went to
church and then visited family.
Monday
$5.00: coffee and snack while driving around for
work
I
found (as you will see from the rest of the spending diary) that I have a problem
with little stops for coffee and a quick snack when spending a lot of time in
the car. Once in awhile is fine, but I definitely need to work on cutting back!
Those little $3 or $5 stops can add up fast.
Tuesday
$4.48: small grocery trip for milk, bread and
Cheetos
Bread
and milk were necessities. Cheetos were not, but they were delicious.
$26.00: dinner with my husband and friends
We
had a wonderful time visiting with some friends we have not seen in awhile over
dinner. We had a gift card for the restaurant we were at and the total above
includes the tip. That total is not too bad for four people at a nice
restaurant. Had we not had the gift card, the total bill would have been close
to triple that!
Wednesday
$0
Packed
lunch and didn’t make any stops that required me spending money. That night, I
made dinner at home! Another successful $0 spending day.
Thursday:
$5.36: lunch
Between
meetings and classes, I was not at my office at all on Thursday. My lunch would
have sat in my hot car all day so I opted for buying instead. One way to avoid
buying lunches on days like this is to invest in a good insulated lunch box and
some ‘blue ice’ cooling pouches. Think about packing things like a good old
PBJ, even if it’s not ice cold, it is still going to taste great!
$17.13: Target stop for a refill on cleaning
supplies, a mouse trap, Chap Stick and shampoo.
We
have been running low on some household cleaners and when I needed to buy a
mousetrap (yes, we have a mouse in the house). I decided to go ahead and grab
the few other things we needed. Shampoo and Chap Stick were also on the list as
things that need replenishing.
Friday
$33.03: gas
Sadly,
gas is costing us more and more. Thankfully, I get pretty decent mileage on my
car and only have to fill up about once a week. I do try to look for the best
gas prices to save some money as well. For example, the gas station by my house
is usually .5 cents more than the one by my work. If I need gas I try to get it
when I am at work. I also try to utilize any ‘fuel perks’ I earn while shopping
at my local grocery store.
$2.77: breakfast
Again
with the small stops. After doing this spending diary I am going to limit
myself to one coffee/snack stop a week!
$30: dinner date
A
little while ago I wrote about using Groupons, spending within those Groupons
to make them most effective and how to plan for when you know you are going to
spend more. This is a restaurant that is more expensive in nature that we had a
Groupon for. We did know ahead of time we were going to spend more than the
Groupon and adjusted our eating out budget to fit both this and the dinner we
had on Tuesday! We will be eating at home for the next few weeks!
Saturday
$30: over budget during a shopping trip
I
have an important evening event coming up and I have known about it for a
little over a month now. Because of this, I have set aside some ‘dress money’
to go shopping, which I did, and ended up $30 over what I had planned. This
happens to us all once and awhile, but the key is to A. Not go outside your
budget in every category and on every trip and B. Have some savings put away to
cover those extra expenses you are not planning on! The extra $30 was not
needed to keep our lights on or our water running because we are careful to
budget and plan. Going over budget once and awhile is ok but we stick to our
budget 99% of the time to afford that little 1% luxury once and awhile – well
worth it!
In general,
I saw that I was spending way too much money on making little stops and will definitely
be cutting back on that! I also saw the benefits of sticking to your budget so
when you do go over once and awhile, it is ok and you do not need to stress. Budgeting
is so important to have a financially well life and this exercise really opened
my eyes to even the little things that can affect it. Always remember the big
picture when spending your money! I would encourage everyone to try this – you never
know what you are going to find!
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