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Sunday, January 29th, 2006 11:47 am
I started "tracking where every penny goes" in early 2004. (I put that in quotes because there are times I've screwed up; I am currently missing a little over $200. But in the grand scheme of things I'm really not doing all that badly.)

I'm still reworking my categories for expenses. The more accurately they reflect my motivation for buying a thing, the better will be my ability to make budget decisions.

I just created a new category: Social Life. The bottle of wine I bring to a friend's party is not under Groceries:Wine, because I'm not buying it in order to have wine to drink. The pizza I order for the friends watching a movie at my house is not under Dining Out:Dinner, because I never order two large pizzas for dinner. These things are expenditures I make for their value in my social life. When I look at the budget later, instead of saying "Yikes, no more $45 meals", I'll probably say "ah yes, those items there are worth it".
Sunday, January 29th, 2006 08:23 pm (UTC)
It is scarey sometimes.
I was really good for awhile and need to get back into it.
I have no idea where are my money goes.
I guess it is time to get quicken
Monday, January 30th, 2006 12:10 am (UTC)
I kept track with a spreadsheet for a while, and I'm *really* happy I got Quicken. It's a whole lot easier!