keep track of my money

Hello

It’s not The Card, it’s my card. I went through my bank statement on-line today. I wanted to look over to see where the heck my is money going?? I knew I was spending a lot on gas for my SUV but didn’t realize how much more!

As I was going through the statement, I noticed, Itunes, McDonalds and other fast food places, Blockbuster, ATM with drawls from other ATM machines… Then, I heard a little voice in my head, “Mom, can I have the card for…”, or “Mom, where is your card, we need gas”.

With $80.00 per fill-up, we have been filling up two to three times a week! Sickening, to see. My son just received his drivers license last month. So, of course, that’s another teen driver using my car. The other frivolous teen expenses, were sickening to see also.

Long story, short. I really must stop handing over my debit-card to the kids for those type of purchases. I also need to put a mileage limit on the use of my car. When I added up last months expenses, approximatly $300 a week was going towards frivolous purchases, including gas fill-ups.

I need to be on a budget, I diffidently need to record my spending and not hand over my debit card to the kids (huge mistake).

1). No handing over card.
2). No weekly Blockbuster movies.
3). Limit use of car and mileage.
4). No $20 here and $20 there. Set amount $ for weekly spending.
5). Record, Record and Record my spending.

This is a start.

I have no idea where all our money is being spent, or how much I keep giving to the kids. I must keep track of all $ being spent. I need to find an on-line expense sheet to record my spending.

Any idea where I would find one on the web??

thanks.

Do this, you will be more financial responsible, and it will help in organizing other aspects of your life as well.

I set up online banking, got direct deposit, moved most of my major expenses to online payments with imediate access to history of payments. Overall I will have trimmed well over $3000 per year by finding and cancelling old, unused subscriptions to services, reducing the amount of ATM fees I incur, consolidating payments, keeping close track of balances to avoid overdraft charges, and paying early to reduce interest fees. This will require continued attention, but the online setup I have now, and the habits I have developed will keep this one running for quiet some time. I now consider this complete, and it was well worth the time and effort. I would say I probably managed to pay myself in the area of $100 per hour for 30 hours of work over the year. I knew I was worth more than what my job was paying me.

While I haven’t actually been pursuing this goal, but I have done a number of things that will make it much easier in the long run. I have established direct deposit, and while furthering another goal, signed on a loan that will build my credit. I am moving toward direct withdrawal on all my major expenditures (the aforementioned loan, car insurance, phone bill, rent, etc…). This should limit my out of pocket expenses considerably. Once the direct withdrawals are establish, I plan to keep a one month record of all my “incidental” expenses, draw up an existing budget, and an ideal budget and see where I can save myself money.

I have a terrible time keeping track of money. For awhile my mother took my debit card away from me to keep me from spending too much. I’ve gotten those dreaded overdraft fees, and they’re awful! It’s not worth it to put in hard work for that money to be sucked up by the bank. But I recently got my card back into my hands, and I’ve been doing better, but I love spending money! It’s so much fun to go shopping and get new things. I guess that’s where my thinking needs to be shifted…

The first step toward accomplishing this goal is going to be getting direct deposit from my work. I have put this off forever and have a bad habit of not depositing my checks in a timely manner. This has actually caused overdrafts in the past.

Base on my current spending habit, my savings for retirement will be Zero. I didn’t save a penny each month, and I have absolutely no idea where my money went.

Although I am still relatively young, the thought of sleeping on the street when I turn 55 is enough to scare me. So now I determine to save at least 10% of my salary, and move up from here.

I tend to avoid my checking account balance statements, credit card statements, etc., until I gather the nerve to check them online. By the time I finally look, the payment is usually late. For me, 90% of my problem is ignoring the actual problem. And thus begins my journey to face up to my spending habits and decrease my credit card debts.