How did my first weekly budget turn out?
By Matt - Monday, June 2nd, 2008
In the past I’ve tracked my spending but this is the first time that I’ve kept daily tabs on my expenses. Not only that, but this is the first time I’ve actually posted the results on this site. I have to admit that it was a bit scary at first to tell the world what I spent my money on to the last penny. With that said I think that it was a very worthwhile thing to do and it will really help me get a hold of my finances (at least in the short term).
So what was the good, the bad and the ugly from last week’s budget? The reality is there was mostly good as it was a new experience. I learned that I can in fact control my spending and keep accurate tabs on it over the course of a week. Now I just have to make it a habit and start brining the spending down.
On a not so good site I didn’t meet most of my spending numbers even if I wasn’t drastically off on any of them. The goal now is to keep an eye on myself and bring them back in line with the budgets I’m setting for myself. I’ve already adjusted my budget for this week (and the contest). Here are my final numbers for this past week:
May 26-June 1
| Budget | Actual | |
| Alcohol | $25.00 | $29.85 |
| Food-Lunch | $20.00 | $26.64 |
| Food | $100.00 | $93.72 |
| Gas | $20.00 | $20.01 |
| Entertainment | $50.00 | $51.90 |
| Smokes | $25.00 | $25.22 |
| Misc | $50.00 | $14.12 |
| Transportation | $10.00 | $7.00 |
So far I’ve found that just being highly conscious of my day to day spending has been incredibly helpful in keeping me from overspending money when I really didn’t need to. It also brought a few points that I knew back to the front of my mind (such as brining lunch saves me money) and is going to force me to adjust my lifestyle to meet my budget.
This entry is filed under Budgeting and Planning.
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