Drawing A Line In The Sand
I have an envelope on my desk full of receipts from the second half of January. And last night I decided I am just going to file them and start over.
We all have the best of intentions for whatever we start out to do. I did very well last year maintaining a budget and keeping a detailed record of my spending. And I intended to do the same this year. And I still can – but I got behind in January for obvious reasons and the amount of work I needed to do to get back up to speed became insurmountable in my brain. Was it truly insurmountable? No, but the truth of the matter was, the amount of recordkeeping I needed to do to get back to square one was keeping me from doing anything currently. Consequently, I just got further and further behind.
So I drew an imaginary line in the sand, so to speak. Yesterday was February 1st, and I decided that February 1st was a new day, a new month, and the re-beginning of my 2009 budget. I sorted all my receipts from January out of my pockets and desk and put them all in an envelope, and then logged into my bank online and checked my account for what checks I had written that hadn’t been processed yet or online payments I’ve made that hadn’t been debited yet. I hadn’t used my debit card in several days so I knew that was up to date. I then looked through all the charges from the past few weeks to make sure I knew what they all were, and then took my balance from my account, subtracted out all outstanding items, and put the final total on my budget sheet as my new account balance for February.
Maybe I’ll go back in the future and get January caught up. But right now, hanging onto January was keeping me from moving forward into February and keeping a spending log at all. Sometimes, we need to let the past be the past and resolve to continue what we set out to do in the future. And for me, this was one of those times.
I entered the receipt from my spouse getting gasoline last night, and I am on my way to getting back on track with keeping track of our spending. One little step at a time.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well, I’m impressed that you managed the first half of January. I do that quite a lot actually – as in I often feel overwhelmed by keeping a day-to-day account of my spending, so I just toss all of my receipts into a jar, along with dated slips of paper for things I don’t have a receipt for (online transactions, etc.), and when it gets full or I feel up to it, I tackle it (about twice a month).
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I would love to enter receipts into Quicken daily, but I just can’t seem to get myself to do it. I have a special slot in my filing cabinet where my husband empties his pockets every day with any receipts from the day. I keep all receipts in the same place in my purse and usually end up tackling them twice a month when it’s time to pay bills.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I hear you – its tough when things come in and throw off a budget (or nothing throws it off and life happens and we get behind) – but starting again is definitely the best option!
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step! Be kind to yourself, you will get there!
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Good idea! I’ve been an obsessive Quicken user, but this last year I transitioned from one computer (desktop) to using a laptop exclusively. For a while, I would crank up the old monster once a week or so, and try and catch up. By July or so I gave up and just used Yodlee. Finally have Quicken on the laptop –starting with Jan 1– so am back in business. We’ll probably lose a little in tax returns, but, Oh Well!
I think your comments are illustrative of why some folks never start budgeting–”too hard to catch up” or “where DO you start”. Like you say, just draw a line in the sand and make this Day 1.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I’m having exactly the same problem right now! I haven’t entered receipts since… uh…. November.
I’m tempted to just start fresh, but I worry what I’ll do if I want to know, for example, how much I spent on gas in December.
Maybe I’ll just start fresh, stash the old receipts somewhere, and work on them little by little when I have a chance.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I did the exact same thing–I scrapped January and started fresh yesterday. Now I just have to get my girlfriend to do the same!
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Same here. We did very well with our “fun budget” of $150 in early January, but by the end, we were pretending we’d never even set a limit. :-/ We’re back on the bandwagon now, though, and documenting every cent!
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 am
Good for you! I tend to start strong and then taper off when I don’t get my hubby’s info. In January I just entered all my stuff. I’m still asking him for his passbook (which he needs to update) but half the picture is better than none.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 am
Congratulations for getting back on the horse to get it done.
Many of us can relate to your situation. Time goes by so quickly that sometimes by the end of the day you can’t help but think that “I will get it done tomorrow.” The next thing you know it is next week and then of course next month.
Most importantly is that we continue and not give up.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
I’ve been recording all my spending for three years now, long enough to find out my patterns. Three or 4 times a year, I get overwhelmed with something in another area of my life and get behind on my record keeping, and more importantly the planning of my spending. I’ve found that since I get paid twice a month and I plan for two weeks at a time, there is always that next payday around the corner when I can wipe the slate clean and start over. It has become part of my routine now.
Once I get back on track, I can look at where my projected savings should be compared to where they actually are and see exactly how much my lapse cost me. That helps me to keep the lapses to a minimum.