Over the years we’ve made many family budgets, vowing to keep track of our money and save by knowing where every cent goes. Yeah right! We go well for about a month and then it’s out the window. Countless times this has happened. Still we try. It’s quite scary to see where the bulk of your money goes, it’s never where you expect. It can get frustrating. It often becomes a contentious issue. Having to justify expenditure makes me feel like I’m under a microscope. Why do I always get the third degree? I’m no spending junkie.
So we find ourselves doing it again, however this time we’re going to really make it work. Yes we are! The King found a very easy accounting program to use called Freshbooks, all you do is import your bank statements into it each month and it categorises all your spending. It helps you to see where your money is going and come December, the taxes are already done. Not sure how long we’ll last on it this time but so far it looks good.
We also saw a neat little gadget late last night that scans all your bills and receipts so you no longer have to keep mountains of untidy paperwork. I bet there’s one enroute to us already. I’ll be happy to get rid of all the paper. Not sure if the two programs with talk to each other but we’ll check it out.
Now if I can just avoid handing over my credit card statement to the King-I don’t spend too much on Starbucks, really I don’t. Not as much as his wine and cigars at any rate, that’s my justification 🙂 Will it be enough?