WELL, where do I start?
My first meeting with my coach went great, I’m very lucky to have a coach as wonderful as Kim.
One of the things that she gave me was a print out of my spending history from the past couple months, which in the past I have never looked back on, nor even kept up with for that matter.
Seeing all the things I spent money on made me realize how much I can cut down on little things that I don’t even need. You don’t comprehend how much the little things add up to sometimes until you actually see them in front of you.
So what’s a solution to keeping up with your spending? It’s simple! Balance your checkbook.
I am currently documenting every time I make a transaction. Before the challenge I would call in and check my balance through a simple telephone call, sometimes it wasn’t the prettiest reaction on my end after hearing my current balance.
I would often ask myself: "How can I only have X amount of money in my account? Where did it all go?"
After keeping track of all my spending now and often balancing my account I no longer ask myself that question, because I always know how much money is in my account, what I spent here, and how much I can spend there. Sure it’s a little work to document every little dollar spent, but in the long run it pays off, and you’re not sitting there having to back track on everything you spent money on.
Recently I planned to attend a concert in New Braunfels, and to pay for it I had my debit card with me, without thinking that there was a possibility that they would only be taking cash. When I handed the man my debit card he of course said “It’s cash only, but we do have an ATM!”
I then thought to myself, "oh great an ATM but I hate those silly service charges they force you to pay". So of course without any other option I get money out of my checking from the ATM, with an additional charge of almost 5 dollars for just simply using it.
It was at that point I thought to myself, why don’t I just always have some cash on me just in case I need it so that I am not having to use the ATM every time I need cash on the spot.
I depend on using my debit card for everything not thinking that some places don’t take debit cards, only cash. For instance football games, concessions, concerts or any type of sporting event doesn’t usually accept debit cards unless you by in advance or something.
The solution I came up with to this is each month when I deposit my check; get about $40.00 dollars in cash out just to be safe. This eliminates being jibbed with the service charges ATMs force you to pay.
I’m continuing to save for my goal of paying my parents back for the wreck I got in and determined to achieve it!
I plan to cut down on my spending; eliminating the little unnecessary items I tend to splurge on.
Until next time,
Solana (:
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