Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt talked about how her family was on a spending freeze a few weeks ago. I thought this was a splendid idea for me, since I seem to have accumulated another $3000 in debt through some mysterious means. Now, if I at least had a shiny new television to show for that spending, I could at least understand, but I tell you, I have not done any extra purchasing AT ALL.
“But wait a minute Jb,” you’re asking youself right now. “Didn’t you just go away on a road trip to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago?”
Yes I did, but if you’ll recall, I also used only the money I’d saved in my travel savings account, and that only left me about $25 short of the total moolah I needed to finance the trip. And remember, my only take-away from that trip was a $7.50 souvenir for my brother-in-law.
“And didn’t you also go on a trip to Vancouver too? Come on now Jb, how can you be surprised at this increase in debt?” you continue to ask.
I can only tell you that I have no idea where that money went. Honestly, I have no idea.
So I’m starting up the Budget Binder. Okay, it’s not a full-on budget binder in that it’s not tracking how much I’m spending in each category, but I’m writing down all of my expenses just to see where I’m spending all my money. This is because I have no idea where the hell all my moolah is going. I got this idea from Gail Vaz-Oxlade, who’s the financial advisor on the show Til Debt do us Part. You can check out more on the show here. Most of the people on featured on the show don’t know where they’re spending a lot of their money, specifically their cash. Because I’ve been pretty good with my expenditures on my credit card(s) and/or lines of credit, I’m thinking it must be the cash that’s messing me up somehow. My “only withdraw $200 in cash each pay and spend till it’s gone” theory must not be working. Although I’m not entirely sure that’s the issue, I figure this is a good place to start. I am going to track all the money I spend though, using expensr.com as well. The reason I like expensr is that their analysis software makes nice pie charts of all the information you enter into it. So starting July 1, I’ll be tracking all of my expenses and seeing where the money is going.
Here’s to hoping I can solve the mystery! I’ve got some expensive expenses coming up, so I’d like to be able to breathe a little easier.
Yes, writing it all down - just like food when you are on a diet, is supposed to work. I’m with you on it!
I have no idea what I spend each month on groceries. Sad. One of my goals for July is to track this so I know and can make cuts where needed.