Budget Update: Doing Better

This last week went better budget wise.  Neither of us spent much money and hopefully this trend will continue to the end of the month.  I am determined to stick to our budget for groceries and clothing this month, and I think that I will be able to pull it off.  One area we have already gone over is fuel for the vehicles.  That might be an area where we need to adjust our budget.

I have read about how many people use a simple cash based system to help them stick to their budget, but my husband does not feel that this is the best option for us.  We have a couple of credit cards with which we earn a percent back for each purchase that we pay off each month.  To keep track of our credit card expenses and budget, we enter all our receipts in our budget software.

So far this system seems to work well for us.  I know that using a credit card means that the stores can track our spending habits, but I don't know that I have ever bought an item that I would be embarrassed to say that I bought, so I do not worry about it too much.

Just like a diet, a little success can help one stick to the diet, but there are times when sticking to the diet just seems like too much work.  I've tried to establish some goals for our budget keeping.  Hopefully they will be enough to keep us motivated to stick with it.