your money or your life

Following a thread on a REI blog, I came across a reference to a book -                " Your Money or Your Life". In a previous post I mentioned working  on a book of my experiences the last few years and my resulting growth. One of the areas focused on is how I think ( and feel) about money.  I belong to a writers club (Coffee House Writers Group) and I got a strong response to a section I shared that talked honestly about some of my financial mistakes.

I checked online and found a blog,
https://ymoyl.wordpress.com/summary-of-your-money-or-your-life/
that gave a very good synopsis and some tools to put it to use.
A key tool is to keep track of EVERY CENT I SPEND with a Daily Money Log.
Because it’s the best way to become conscious of how much money

actually comes and goes in your life as opposed to how you think it comes and goes.

I started in February and halfway through March here's what I've found so far.


It's amazing how easy it is to spend and keep track. Every evening and morning I review my receipts and any notes I write to make sure it goes on my daily log.  There are signs by my computer to remind me because if a few days go by, chances are I'll miss something.  Having a monthly budget is good and I adjust it at the start of the year to keep it accurate, but  KNOWING that I am going to write down every cent spent, more thought goes into each purchase.

The next step is to determine the real value you got for your money.

I will talk about that next month.