Personal Finance is one of my favorite topics to learn about. Whether it’s reading articles or listening to podcasts, I find the topic fascinating. Since it affects a large part of my life, I’m taking it as a good thing. In no way am I a trained professional; I just like to learn and talk about it.
For the past month, I have made a bigger effort in budgeting and controlling my spending. I have a healthy income, but it’s significantly less than I use to make. I’ve been blessed in that I’ve always tracked my spending, but I didn’t have to worry a lot. I set some new financial goals, so for me to achieve these, I need to save more money. My current motivation is listening to Dave Ramsey podcasts.
Most people know his name, but I’m not sure how much people know about him. I personally didn’t know his principles, but once I started listening to people’s stories about how they turned their life around, I was intrigued. Even though I don’t agree with all of the details, I love the philosophy. An example is that I wouldn’t get rid of my credit card. I am too worried about online security to use a debit card online, and I enjoy benefiting from travel / cash back perks. I pay my credit card off every month and would never consider carrying a balance. However, if you have credit card debt, and that is a weakness for you, eliminate the problem and cut up the card.
Budgeting Takeaways
I didn’t do a perfect job budgeting this month, but it opened my eyes to how much unnecessary money I spend. Food is the biggest area of change for me. Whether it’s buying a lot of food at the grocery store (unnecessary), snacks on the go, or eating out, I can change my behavior to buy less. This month was an additional challenge because I planned two trips. I packed food before I left and watched what I spent at restaurants. Even doing this, it was hard. There were so many times when I thought, “I think I’ll go buy this” until I reminded myself of my goals. This is a huge paradigm shift for me.
February will be another tough month because of my trip to Switzerland. I’m preparing my budget now. Until next time, happy wanderings!
