Now that I've got the whole diet thing under control and am nearing my goal, I've been looking at other areas in my life that could use some help. I earn good money, carry no credit card debt, yet can't seem to save much money per month. So I've decided that I must go on a financial diet. I started keeping track of everything I spend in an excel budget spreadsheet as of Sept. 1 and also signed up for a mint.com account. I already know that my biggest money waster is dining out. I never pack my lunch and could probably save a lot of money if I start putting in a little more effort. So hopefully, after a month of tracking my spending, it will shock me into changing my habits, much like keeping a food journal did. Does anyone keep a budget every month? Do you think it helps you save more?

Marms, I do. And, I budget in my savings and put that money away right away when I get paid. It has worked well for me.

Good luck!

J

My savings comes out the very first thing. I set up all my bills online with my bank and most are the same every month. My electric and gas are averaged, so I know what they are every month.

One thing that might help would be to write down all your fixed expenses and see what the total is. Then you would have a number for your disgressionary income is. Then you could plan what you were going to do. When I worked in the city I always took my own lunch, sat and people watched and took a short walk. I'll bet you'll be amazed the amount you spend eating out-and we all know where it ends up Sorry, couldn't help myself

I have been bad in the past, so I need a budget, I actually have two savings account...my paycheck is direct deposited in my bank account and $50.00 of it a week is depostited directly in a credit union account that I actually have physically go to get out the second is money that my bank moves form the direct deposit checking into savings once a week...I can move money between my checkings and savings any time. I set up onp online payments for the month and since I KNOW that money can't be changed later, I have to stick to it. You have to find what works for you. I also budget a set amount for "fun", if I want something like say a new i=pod, I have to wait to the "fun" budget has built up enough to buy it.

Hi everyone: I'm so pleased to find this thread. I just love everyone's comments and suggestions. Great ideas I'm going to try.

I'm in the same position. I've been so successful with my food budgeting and weight loss that I both want to share that success with other areas of my life but also I need to have some kind of goal.

It's a bit of an addiction now. Recently someone suggested that I find something else to fix my attention on. I'm planning on going in to a post-graduate program next fall and thought I'd strip myself of all extras now. This will help to keep me on course both for my maintainence plan and also to practise a restricted budget. My biggest problem has always been eating out--it's expensive and I eat too much. So, I'm getting a two for one on this.

We started this past Tuesday. I also started a no-salt and no-diet soda plan, too. I'm surprised just how many little habits I have that are either contributors to me eating out, over eating, or wasting money. My salt addiction really was over the top so I've just cut it out. The diet soda problem got me to stop for meals with the kids all the time.

My husband wrote up all our fixed expenses (and was nice enough to budget in some extracurricular dining for the family plus a movie out) and gave me the final amount we'll have left over. This is going to be saved. We'll be losing 70% of my salary from next Fall so I need to really real in my unneccessary spending. My husband is from a very remote farm in Asia so he almost never spends on anything. I'm not insane about spending. My biggetst trips are to the goodwill for a whole new wardrobe after 15 pounds of weight loss ($45 total). So, it's mostly my daily silly stuff like diet soda and unneccessary groceries to cut out.

The extra money saved will go towards next Fall's reduced expenses or retirement. We'll see. Any suggestions others are doing, I'm happy to follow along.

All good suggestions. I currently only have a checking account so opening up a savings account and getting money automatically transferred every month sound like a great idea.

I've talked with my hubby about having a couple savings accounts. One for our "after expenses" or planned extra. So, we made a list of all our fixed expenses and added in some of our flexible expenses (groceries, entertainment).

I was thinking that each week, I could draw off our left over money (about $60). This will automatically to pulled out to the savings account.

I wanted to find out from the bank if I can have a separate account with a separate debit card that I put weekly money for: groceries and entertainment. At the end of each month, I hope to have a (or more) left over. This will be from coupons, savings, harvest from our own garden, etc.

Basically, I'm the "spender" in the family while my husband is the "hoarder". He loves to secretly pay off bills and surprise me. Recently, he surprised me by showing me the balance to our grad school loans--all paid off. Whew.

I gave up a few of my obvious expenditures that were just silly--diet soda and salt (a trigger for over eating). I also have introduced the kids to my new word-- "no". They're very good at asking me if I want to stop at the deli for dinner since they're starving (at 5:05 when we have 15 minutes before we get home and 15 minutes before dinner hits the table).

We usually have brown rice, noodles and kasha already pre-made in the fridge. So, the kids can usually name what they want and have it on the table very quickly. My kids love raw tofu, shredded parmasean cheese, mixed Nepali bean curry, and raw veges or a salad.

Knowing I have pre-made grains in the fridge is reallly easy for me to resist stopping anywhere. I can get the food on the table just as fast but it will be organic, without preservatives, and in portions that make sense for kids.

My hubby and I use quicken to budget everything. We allow for some "play" money but the rest goes to saving. And giving up eating out as much as possible really will pay off. You would be suprised how quickly even doing some thing like stopping buying your morning coffee can quickly add up.

Yes, I can kiss my morning coffee goodbye. I will really miss it. The homemade brew from my coffeemaker just doesn't seem to ever taste as good, lol. But I guess I will get used to it.

I went grocery shopping tonight for the week and really paid attention to prices. I picked up 5 apples so I could have one with lunch everyday. They were only $1.99 / lb but the 5 apples were 3.74 lbs! That's like $1.50 an apple, which I think is ridiculous. So I bought grapes instead since they were on sale. So my new rule is only buy the fresh produce that is on sale that week. That will also guarantee I eat a variety of fresh produce.