Monitoring Your Expenses Will Ensure Your Budget Stays on Track

Even billionaires track their expenses. It’s true. With every possible product, gadget, and service for sale, even a billionaire could fall into debt through carelessness. Your expenses are one major component of your budget, and your income is the other major piece. By tracking your expenses, you’ll be a step ahead in the budget game.

You’ve heard on the news about lottery winners who spend their entire fortune and end up in bankruptcy court. They weren’t tracking their expenses. They assumed they had enough to cover everything. You can see it’s not about what you make, so much as about what you spend. By monitoring where your money is going, you’ll be able to see what’s not negotiable, what’s frivolous, and what’s somewhere in between.

By tracking your expenses, you’ll be able to keep your budget real. You’ll be able to see what’s realistic and what purchases are just not going to happen. And when you do trim expenses, don’t confuse your spending with your self-esteem. You’ll need to put spending into a new perspective: you can fill voids in your life with something besides things. Your expenses – and your income – are not you.

If you really want something badly, how hard are you willing to work for it? Are you willing to take up a second job in order to pay for extravagances and big expenses? If you are, then perhaps that special item is worth it to you. If you’re willing to make the extra income, you can afford some extra expenses. It’s all in the planning.