JDgreen
Lawn Addict
- Joined
- May 14, 2010
- Threads
- 248
- Messages
- 2,887
Many people make a New Years resolution to keep a budget, I have kept one for over 20 years now, meaning I can easily look up how much I spent on groceries or diesel fuel or pet care on any certain month going back that far, as well as being able to track energy use.
I am not so detailed that I record auto-payment items like car insurance or mortgage payments, although it would be easy to do so. And unlike some folks keep a budget that is online, mine are always paper and pen recorded. If you keep a budget it's a lot easier to control your impulse spending because when you see the dollar figures written down, its REAL, not wishful thinking.
I've always compared it to something I saw on a TV show many years back, the program was about restricting your spending by paying cash instead of charging things, the tagline was:
"You spend less when you put Uncle Ben on the counter instead of paying with plastic..." thinking of that always makes me laugh. :laughing::laughing:
I am not so detailed that I record auto-payment items like car insurance or mortgage payments, although it would be easy to do so. And unlike some folks keep a budget that is online, mine are always paper and pen recorded. If you keep a budget it's a lot easier to control your impulse spending because when you see the dollar figures written down, its REAL, not wishful thinking.
I've always compared it to something I saw on a TV show many years back, the program was about restricting your spending by paying cash instead of charging things, the tagline was:
"You spend less when you put Uncle Ben on the counter instead of paying with plastic..." thinking of that always makes me laugh. :laughing::laughing: