Long story short: I have always been thrifty, but being thrifty and knowing where your money goes are actually two different issues. Yeah I won’t spend more than $5 for jeans (I’m a thrift store girl), and I buy books secondhand, but it’s not the stuff you think about that leeches your budget, it’s the little things you don’t consider.

Eight years ago: give or take, I read Your Money or Your Life. A book which pretty much changed my life. I know, that sounds all lame, like a movie, but it’s true. There’s a lot of good in this book, but the best tip in there is, “Write down every penny you spend, or you’ll never know where your money goes.”

So I did what the book suggested: My son was a baby, I was in college, my ex was in college, it was a good time to save money. For a year I carried a little notepad everywhere. I saved receipts, I wrote down every single penny. If I made a phone call at a pay phone I wrote it down. My ex was into the idea, but he’s utterly disorganized, so I collected his receipts and gave him a notebook, and told him to give it to me at the end of each month and I’d add it up.

At the end of a year: I added up everything; everything from the entire year. I made categories in a word document and broke all purchases into necessary vs. unnecessary. I.e. a winter hat, basic groceries, the electric bill are all necessities. Chips, shoes (when you have four pairs already), and coffee at a coffee shop are all not necessities.

The results:  Um, we spent $700 on slurpees. My ex spent $400 on coffee out. We spent extra $ on lots of little things. We just didn’t realize how much because we had never wrote it all down. The good news was we spent more on necessities than non necessities, but the slurpee figured almost shocked us into old age. College kids need caffeine, but not THAT much caffeine.

Time well spent: How hard was it to do all this – seriously hard. If you’ve never wrote down every penny you spend, it’s trying at times. It took us a few months to get into the natural swing of writing down purchases. It took me an entire weekend to figure out the end results. It was not an easy task. It was also totally worth it. We were able to see exactly where our money was going and adjust to make the situation better. We bought an ice making machine, and made fruit ice drinks at home, and my ex bought an espresso machine to make drinks at home instead of buying coffee out. We also adjusted other purchases.

The following year: We followed the plan for a second year, and saved tons of money. We spent about $10 on slurpees the second year, and almost no money on some other non necessities.

Moral: If you’re constantly trying to figure out where your money is going, you have to write it down; every penny. There’s no other option. Period.

My friend recently wanted me to help him with his budget. He makes well over what his bills cost, yet never seems to have any money. In fact, he’s in the hole money wise. I told him, “Your money must be going somewhere; unless someone is stealing it, you’re spending it on something.” He says, “BUT I’m not.” I say, “That’s impossible, you need to write down all your purchases.” He just keeps saying he has no clue where his money is, and frankly, I can’t help him. He’s stuck because he won’t take control. You have to do the work to see results. 

Personally, I think writing down every purchase for a year is something everyone should try once. It puts you in control, allows you to change your thinking about money, and can save you big bucks in the long run. To learn more check out Your Money or Your Life from the library.

Have you ever tried this?  

Post from: Thrifty Mommy