Knowing Where My Money's Going

So far, things have been going well. By tracking my expenses, we discovered that I was spending a huge proportion of my expendable income on food. That includes both groceries as well as eating out, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, considering that I was buying groceries with the intention of eating them but I was still spending money almost daily eating at various restaurants.

My financial coach, Carrie, and I set a food budget of $50 a week, which comes out to $200 a month. This includes eating out and groceries. Fifty dollars buys way more groceries—especially on double coupon days.

Also, I have been entering my receipts on a daily basis which, I must say, really discourages some of those more impulsive purchases. I used to hold on to receipts with the intent of entering them into the computer at some point, but in reality, I never got around to doing it. This will help me keep better track of my true day-to-day expenses.