Budgeting Woes

Money.

It's what makes the world go 'round. And no matter how much you have, it never seems to be enough, right?

Budget.

Making what you've got last a little bit longer.

Budgets are the bane of my existance. In my last job, I swore I'd never take another that required me to balance the budget. Fortunately, for me and our organization, I do not have that responsibility this time around. But, you can never really get away can you? People at work constantly complain about "doing their budgets" and with our upcoming grant cycle deadline looming, it is all the topic around here. At home too. With being a newlywed comes the financial responsibility of making your money work for two, and even though we have combined our funds (what's yours is mine and what's mine is yours) it doesn't seem to have made a difference. The more you have, the more you'll spend.

Therefore, I have put myself on a budget. $1000 per month for groceries, lunches, gym membership and incidentals (birthday presents, happy hours etc.). This sounds like a lot to me, but over and over again, I have overspent my money for the month leaving my contribution to the mortgage in jeopardy. So, the only way I think that I will not cheat is to share my daily expenses with you, my loyal readers. I'll continue to post as normal, but at the end of each post I will list my expenses for the previous day. The mere fact that I have promised to share my each and every penny spent this month with the greater internet world, should make me think twice before buying another pair of shoes.

Here it goes:

• May 1:
  $1 Circulator
  $10 Lunch
  $12 Grocery Store