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".
- Get grasp on finances - budget, saving, reconciling
- 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.
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?
