Resolutions...a month & a half in.

Alrighty.  I purposely haven't posted about this until now.  Mainly because I get tired of the hype and also because I prefer to make goals for the year rather than resolutions.  Ah, semantics.  But for whatever reason I equate 'resolution' with the bad and 'goals' with the good.  Maybe because resolutions are often broken...or maybe it's my resolutions that are often broken.

At any rate, I have a note hanging on my bulletin board titled "2012 Goals".

1. Get grasp on finances - budget, saving, reconciling
2. Simplify & declutter - declutter calendar

You've already heard about the decluttering calendar.  I went through everything on my desk last week.  It feels wonderful!

As for our finances, even with a financial advisor/tax preparer for a mother, I have never been able to keep track of what comes in and what goes out.  Which is amazing for someone who manages 24 different funds at work.  And honestly, I think it's because I've never had a system.  I am very much a systematic, follow the rules kind of girl.

I don't remember how I stumbled across it, but I came across a blog post by Echoes of Laughter detailing a bill binder.

Source: applevalleygirl.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Considering I didn't have any system at all, I decided to give it a shot.  So far so good.  That said, we're only a month in.  :)

For me, it works.  It's all in one place and the papers don't pile up underneath my desk waiting for me to file them--which never happens by the way.  And it's great that I can see the entire month of bills in one glance.  I started writing down what we pay in groceries every week just so I can see what we spend on average.  Soon I'd like to create an actual budget to stick to.  But again, I need a system.

Have you had any real success with creating a budget & sticking to it?  What's your advice?