I shared earlier that I am beginning a journey of saving money on every category possible in my budget. Because we have already cut back drastically over the years it is going to be hard to find any large savings, but if I can pinch pennies they will add up to dollars. My plan is to have more to invest towards retirement, so my pennies added together making dollars invested should turn into hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars by the time I need it.
My first step was to make a budget. Years ago we kept a budget, but after we learned how to limit our spending we fell off of keeping track of each dollar spent. To gain control again and see where we might be able to cut back I took the time to make a budget. This also showed how much extra we have monthly to invest so we can get it right into the retirement account.
I enjoy organizing and designing, but I do not enjoy repetitive daily upkeep of things. So sustaining my budget is going to be a real chore for me, but it will be a reminder to me that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," or as I will be reminding myself, "the savings of a thousand dollars begins with one penny."
Do you keep a budget? Do you record each dollar spent?
