January Spending!

In 2010 I challenged myself to keep a detailed expense record. I am notoriously disorganized with my finances and can become very distracted by the simple thought of balancing the checkbook. I have really used this blog to challenge myself in many ways, so when I decided to keep track of my spending it seemed like a great idea to make my challenge public.

We all have those monumental ideas, but without accountability we tend to let even the best of intentions fade away. Well, I do anyway.

So last month when I shared this post with you all I made myself accountable to each of you. I am still working on having a gadget created that will track my spending more regularly, but for now I will post monthly updates.

January 2010 Spending

103 Transactions (YIKES)

Beginning Amount: $1527.34

Manufactures Coupons: $400.34

Store Savings: $728.44

Total Oop: $408.62

ECB/RR/GC: $113.50

Rebates: $60

Total Savings: $1373.80

I hope that next month will be a better month with a lower Out of Pocket number. This month had 2 shopping trips to Wal-mart that were unplanned and one of those included repairing the flat tire I got in their parking lot.

February starts out with a great stock pile. The Kroger Mega-sale has been really building up some of the essential things as well as the filler pieces for lots of recipes. I also want to start tracking how much my family spends on food outside of home, I feel like we do a terrible job using all of the great deals that I gather. I know there are leftovers most nights and we just don't take them with us the next day. I also know that I am the biggest culprit of eating out in my family. Some things I am doing to make a difference in this part of our budget is bringing more things to work with me. I brought a 12 pack of Diet Coke from the stock pile yesterday, and I need to bring breakfast and lunch from home. I usually keep a few snacks in my desk drawer but I have let that slide lately too. I know that I can cut down on so much wasted money if I just apply myself.

So look for my next update to see if I am able to cut back on my excess spending.