Do you track your daily expenses? Posted: 15 Jan 2008 04:42 AM CST
Picture from www.syspro.com.au
Everyone is very busy these days. I know what you're thinking... Who has time, each day, to track every penny they spend? What's the big deal anyway? Well, the big deal is: tracking your daily expenses will help you find expenses that you can reduce and/or eliminate. In January's Income for Life newsletter, I included details on what I found from tracking my daily expenses. If you're an Income for Life Member, you saw how I identified 4 ways to save $12,140 a year. Would you be willing to track your daily expenses, if you could save $12,140 a year? When you begin to track every single penny you spend, you'll instantly see money that is being wasted. On the surface, these small amounts don't seem like much. However, when you tally them up at the end of the month, things begin to change. Your monthly totals give you a different picture. Now, multiply these monthly totals by 12 and you'll have a real eye opener. In the book, Your Money or Your Life, the authors define money as "life energy." In other words, how much of your life do you have to trade away to make money? We all have limited life energy. By wasting your money, you're wasting your life's energy. For example, how long would you have to work to make $12,140? If you make $25 a hour, you would have to work 485 hours to make $12,140. By tracking my daily expenses, I was able to make some changes that will save a significant amount of money. Moreover, I have saved 485 hours of work. Can you see the big deal now? Tracking your daily expenses is not hard. It is actually very easy. You simply need to learn a new habit. Some people track their daily expenses in their day planners. Others track in a small pocket organizer. Some use software programs. Money magazine recently recommended a really neat free online program. With Mint.com, the service will automatically track your expenses directly from your bank account. It will put your expenses in categories for you. It's very easy and the price is right! I didn't do anything fancy. I simply purchased a cheap notebook and I left it on our kitchen table. Each night, when I sat down to have dinner with my family, I took a minute to list all of the money spent during the day. It became part of our dinner conversation. I would ask my wife what she purchased and put it in my notebook. I did this in front of my kids. They began asking questions, which gave me the opportunity to teach them about money. Most young children do not make wise choices with their money. They spend their money freely on junk. Well, at least my kids do. By tracking our daily expenses with my family, I had the opportunity to lead by example. They got to see "mom" and "dad" using money wisely. If you only do one thing different in 2008, track every penny you spend. If you have kids, do this little exercise in front of them. They'll start asking questions. Hopefully, they'll start tracking their expenses too. This would be a great habit to teach them. I promise that you'll see many ways to save money. I'll also promise that you'll re-examine a few of your priorities. In the newsletter, I shared how my priorities changed from this little daily exercise. Plus, you can use the money you save to invest in real estate, save for retirement or pay down debt. Now, I need your help! If you track your daily expenses, please submit a comment to this post. I'd love to hear your findings. Did you find any areas where you can save? If so, how much? How has this process changed your priorities? By the way, you can download January's Income for Life Newsletter, in the Member's Only website. If you're not a member, apply here. Tami Roberts
|
Alabama Gulf Coast Real Estate Market News
