Budgeting

I’ve never really come up with a budgeting plan and track down every little expenses until half a year ago. I have been forcing myself to record in spreadsheet each time I spend so that I keep track of where my money goes to. I spend on food and I want to know how much. I spend on petrol and I want to know how much. I started this way long ago but never had the consistency to keep it going. I’ll either be tracking for the first half of the month then I slowly die away. I’m pleased to say my January expenses track list is somewhat a complete one. It’s not that hard now to record the expenses. In fact, it’s slowly becoming a habit for me.

The reason why I’m dying to do this is because I find it harder to save. I think I was able to save more with the starting salary I had 5 years ago as compared to now even though my salary is higher than that of 5 years ago. So, you see…something is not right and I don’t like the feeling and thought of it. It could be that I spend more on little luxuries (monthly facial and so on) but if you ask me, monthly facial is no longer a luxury, it’s compulsory. As much as I would like to save a big chunk of my income, I wouldn’t want to live miserably either. Hence, BUDGETING!!

And so….while I kept track of the past monthly expenses spreadsheets, I never did anything to it until today. I compiled the data…and I’m thinking maybe I should show it in percentage or in a pie chart of the slices of different categories of expenses. What is necessary, what is not. What can be reduced. What I can do away with. What I should take note of and so on. Honestly, I don’t like the data I’m seeing now. The total expenses of some months is close to the total income, which actually means I don’t get to save much and I cannot allow myself to live like this anymore.

The only good thing about this is…it wakes me up. It opens my eyes to where my money goes to and I need to ask myself if I still want money to go away like that. I also seriously think that I need a side income, if what I want is more than just save but to save and have money to invest. This will be a learning process. If I have a clear overview of my spending habits then I guess I won’t feel overwhelmed and keep thinking why I’m always broke.

Gracie…towards financial freedom. Now, sleep!

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