Review Spending – 52 Week Money Savings Challenge – Week 19
Welcome to the 52 Week Money Savings Challenge Week 19! We’ve covered many tips and ideas to help cut spending, increase earnings like having a yard sale, but today I want to stop and take a minute to breath. You’re going to want to sit down for this one. Today we’re going to review spending.
Time to Review Spending
Over the years of budgeting, I’ve discovered a necessary evil. Review Spending. This can be an incredibly painful task, but extremely necessary. Do you know where all your money is going? We’ve created a budget so we know where it should be going. We’ve gone to the envelope system for some of our expenses so we don’t go over. And yet, every month I realize that we used the debit card for a treat out, a home repair or maybe a car maintenance item. Typically, I’ve discovered that the extra spending has been pretty necessary, but there are those extra runs to the grocery store, that treat out or that splurge that chips away at any extra we might of had that month.
Like I said, sometimes it’s necessary. You need your car to run, you need that main water line to your house repaired, etc. The purpose of this weeks’ task is to review that extra spending. Look over your statement for the last month, writing everything down in different categories or use different colored highlighters to mark the statement up. Tally each category to see how much you did spend beyond what you budgeted for and purpose to cut back on any splurges.
I did this last week and discovered we treated the kids to ice cream cones 3 times in about 9 days. I had been so caught up in other things during that period that I completely forgot about one of those runs. So guess what, I took that amount out of our weekly food budget and decided we have had enough treats to last us through the month.
The purpose of this task isn’t to discourage you if you’ve gone over budget (believe me, I’ve been there before). It’s to help you know where you are spending money and you won’t know that until you look, crunch numbers and write things down. Don’t feel discouraged by it though. I think you’ll notice a difference if you compare this month’s spending to 6 months ago and that is progress!
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I’m so glad to have you on this journey with me. I’m looking forward to each week and I hope these posts and the emails are not only helpful to you, but encouraging as well.
- If you are new and just now joining, subscribe to the weekly email and download your own copy of the 52 Week Money Savings Challenge printable. All current subscribers are entered into an Amazon drawing held at the end of the month.
- If you want to catch up on the reading of each week, go to our 52 Week Money Savings Challenge page and check out each week listed, as you’re able. Don’t worry about catching up on savings amounts unless you’re able to, just start with the current week and add extra if/as you’re able.
- Want to open an online bank account to help keep things separated? I personally use Capital One 360 and have for years. It takes a few days for transfers to complete if you’re using a local bank
Before we wrap up this week, I want to hear from you! 1) What are you most excited about in participating in this challenge? 2) What are your concerns or frustrations about setting money aside?
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