Well, after keeping a tally for several months - I've decided I'm done with 10 dollar days. I will still manage my food budget at about $300/month but I think the daily recording has resulted in more frenzy that frugality. I glanced over my mint.com budgeting tools and I am sure that I am spending less than $10/day on average and have been trending better than some days.
Well that, and I just plain don't want to record it every day. I know - the truth.
So - onward and upward from there.
UPDATE: I guess I should add here that I montitor all my spending (not just food) very consistently. I keep tabs via mint.com - it works great for me. However, this micromanagement of food spending is beginning to have more downs than ups. I believe it is the "per day" aspect, it's a very short term approach to thinking about food - where as a long term approach is best in terms of frugality. (meal planning, food storage). I'm not truly trying to change how much I spend. $300/month is consistent with $10/day. Also, to be fair, sharing my food consumption with everyone feels a little burdonsome.
I definitely understand where you're coming from. Sometimes, it does seem like more of a hassle to record every other expense. However, I've figured out that I'm doing it temporarily to figure out a few things (like which grocery store actually yields the best resutls, best savings, how often I go to them and how much I spend on it), but after a few more months of gathering data, if it hasnt become a habit to scan/classify each receipt, I am dumping this method altogether.
ReplyDeleteTJ - thanks for the comment. I think monitoring our spending is a super great idea... helps us answer the elusive question of "where the money goes". I hope you find some great solutions with your efforts.
ReplyDeleteI think that keeping detailed records of spending serves its purpose to teach us where our money is going. Once you/we have a handle on that, then you can use that information to make life decisions. For example, I had a HUGE awakening when I started using Quicken. After tediously entering all of my expenses for one year, I made some reports of the data. Imagine my shock and dismay that my second highest monthly expenditure (after mortgage) was WalMart!!! And no, we don't even have a Super WalMart with the grocery store - it was just "stuff". I trimmed that budget immediately, as you could imagine.
ReplyDeleteSo use the data to make your plans and don't worry about not continuing.
Cathy - great feedback - thanks!
ReplyDelete