spend less and save more

Did a bit better this month but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

I earn quite a lot (more than many of my friends) and still I am unable to manage my finances well. Somehow I always end up spending most of my money and I can’t even tell where most of it’s going. I do go out a lot and spend a lot on food, but that still doesn’t explain the fact that I save practically nothing.

Have managed to save a bit this month. It’s a good start, but I need to try harder from now on.

Had a bit of a shock when I checked my savings and realised how low they’ve gone. Three weeks before Christmas is probably not a very realistic time to start saving. But my aim for 2008 is to save something every month.

I used to do a job I wasn’t happy in and tended to do a lot of comfort spending. I changed job a year ago and am much happier, but the spending has become a habit and I’m still doing it – not helped by the fact that I earn more in the new job. I had to get a new car six months ago which depleted my savings somewhat, and so far I haven’t replaced any of the money taken out for the car. I must start giving more thought to what I’m spending and asking myself if I really need these items – most of the time the answer will be ‘no’. Hopefully this will leave me money to save ready for something I really do need.

I think I need to focus more on my “live simply” goal rather than this one, in part because a lot of the spending issues in my household have nothing to do with me or my choices. My husband is a big culprit here, and he also brings with him a son and an ex-wife that both affect our finances to a great degree. I’ve come to understand that there’s just not that much I can do about certain things, sadly. I stay responsible for my own expenses, try to be helpful where I can with the rest, and that’s it. Hate to give up on anything, but I can only change myself.

Gotta quit spending too much…wanna achieve X% amt by %{color:red}Dec’06