One of my goals for 2010 was to better stick to a budget. Right before 2009 ended, I made up a monthly budget plan to stick to. I included all my bills and gave myself a certain monthly allowance for different categories. By writing things down, I instantly became more aware of how much money I was spending on things and what I could do to cut back. Setting limits every month and writing things down helped me tremendously and I would suggest this to anyone trying to stay on a strict budget.

Last month, I went over my budget in the three categories that I have a feeling will be a continuous struggle for me: gas, food and entertainment. At the end of December, I decided $100/month for gas would probably be a good amount, but then gas went up in price around $.25/gallon here. Although it is starting to go down in price slightly, I’m going to start budgeting $120/month now.

Entertainment was way over this month because I promised my friends son I would take him to the Monster Truck show that was last weekend. The look on his face was definitely worth spending the extra money.

Going over on the food budget was all my fault entirely. I got lazy the last week of the month and didn’t feel like going grocery shopping, so I went out for lunch instead of bringing it to work like I usually do. In just that one week, I went way over budget. It just goes to show you how much you can really save by bringing your lunch with you to work instead of going out to eat. This month, I am going to make sure that there is enough food in the house for the entire month so I always have something to bring with me.

I hope to stay better on track this month. We’ll see how it goes.

Filed under: budgeting by Barbara
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