I created a budget on paper that seemed reasonable, but I found it so hard to stay on track without removing some of the hanging out with friends portion. Basically, I created a budget of $700 for Food/Groceries/Going Out in July 2010. A figure for NYC that can easily be diminished in a few days. I went to $1,006 for the month… I also added some debt with credit cards, even though I made a $1,000 payment to one of my cards. I went over my budget, even though I was tracking it in Mint.com and via an app on my phone by making the conscious choice to actually go out and enjoy even though I knew I shouldn’t.
This has to stop.
I can’t afford to keep doing this as it will cut into my long term savings goals. I’m sure I can find other ways to enjoy life without having to constantly go out. So this month I promise to make lunch more often at home and drink only 1 drink while out. No more buying a round of drinks for people and such. We’ll see how this goes, as I’ve already gone out one night to celebrate moving into my new apartment and spent a bunch of money. I view this however as money that needed to be spent to thank the people that helped me move. My tracking mechanism for the month will be how much my networth goes up back on track and controlling the food and going out category for $700 dollars. Given a four week period for the month that amounts to $175/week in spending in all of those categories.
So I will write at the end of every 7 day period the amount of money that I’ve spent in the category and how much I have left. Hopefully this closer public tracking will force me to change my methods. I’m already in trouble for the first week, so I hope I can control it the second week. Here it goes..