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I feel that I'm not being honest with myself this time around about how well I'm doing with my budgeting. After last weekend my booze envelope is empty, my toiletries envelope is empty (and I didn't use that money for toiletries); luckily I have money in my grocery envelope so I can eat, the animals have full bags of food and my dine out envelope is still full (and by full, I mean it has $20 in it, so I won't be going to fancy places). I think that having a partner that is so generous makes this process tougher; I want to become financially stable and be able to take care of myself in case something ever happens, but my significant other keeps on insisting on paying for things.
On the weekend we went to the casino (that's where my toiletry money went) and he won quite a bit of money so has been paying for dinner and drinks all week. I feel a sense of guilt about this because he shouldn't have to 'pay' because he's good with money and I'm not.
Those are my thoughts for the week.

I've included a link to an article I read today. It's US based, but I believe could still be applicable to Canadians. The question being posed is can you save money by taking public transit vs. driving? Let me know your thoughts.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1771236

Budgies burritos sounds much better than a budget!

Budgies Burritos? A great, inexpensive vegetarian burrito joint at Main and Broadway in Vancouver, BC.


Step #1 to starting this process was to set up my budget. My friend Sarah sent me a great link to http://getfinanciallynaked.com/get-financially-naked after a lengthy conversation one night about being financially stupid (me, not her).

I downloaded the budget template and started from there (you can find this budget template on the righthand side of the screen - if you go to the link you can download this for yourself)!

I figured that my best first step was to give myself a taste of reality. Instead of starting off with how much I want to spend each month on each given thing, I decided to use that column to guess how much money I spend on everything each month.

From there I went to my online banking and downloaded the last 3 months statements, printed them off and with highlighter in hand went through and tallied up how much money I had spent at the grocery store, liquor store, gas etc. The only problem here were the withdrawals I made and having no idea where that money went. I am guessing that that money should be calculated as part of the "entertainment" section.

This was a real eye opener. An example - I guessed that I spend $60/month on groceries. After I added up the little things I got here and there, going to the grocery store every day, I was almost triple that amount.

Lesson of the day: shop for the week/pay period, not for the day.