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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.

Now what am I going to do?

So a few weeks after bouncing my rent cheque I decide that enough is enough and I"m going to take action. Taking action included actually answering the phone when the credit agency called and dealing with the unpaid phone bill I'd been avoiding for a year. Feeling empowered by the thought of finally getting my stuff together, I picked up the phone only to find out that the amount I owed last year was accumulating 25% a day. Needless to say I was once again beside myself and once again had to rely on someone else to help me out of this jam for now.

So as of today I have a clean slate. Pay day is in a week and I have a plan.
This blog is set up to document my journey and hopefully help other women be empowered to get control of their finances. I'd appreciate comments, articles...anything you can contribute.

My plan so far includes:

A budget - I've completed my budget and allotted a certain amount of money to everything and anything I spend money on.
I'm the QUEEN of debit. I LOVE my debit card, but I don't pay attention to the amount of money I have (or don't have) in my account. So as of my next pay day the debit card stays at home. I've put together envelopes for everything and I am going to stick to my budget.

Will let you know how that goes!