Relearning the Basics

I thought I was good at handling money. Until one day Paul asked me how much was our surplus last January. It was like I was punched on the face! I could not produce the exact amount.

Yep! I was humiliated with myself. I was disappointed. I thought I had it all planned out. I didn't notice that I was too lax with our money.

But mind you, I never missed a single bill. I was also able to deposit for our savings/investments.

This February I am happy to say that I monitored my expenses on a daily basis and am able to produce the exact amounts.

So at any time of the day Paul can easily see where our money is going and how much we are spending on a particular commodity.

		Target	Actual	Savings	Comments
household	Electric bill	1000			no bill yet
	Water bill	300	183.5	116.5	paid
	Cable and Internet	1190			no bill yet
	Food/Miscellaneous	6000	2849.76	3150.24	on track
	Leisure	2000			on track
	Car Expenditure	5000	1500	3500	on track

That’s it! That’s our budget for the whole month. Believe it or not we are able to simplify our budget and make it work for us.

It has become a rule in the house that we both have our allowances/play money that we could spend even without the knowledge of the partner. The strategy gives us freedom to move around. It’s also empowers each of us that even though we are saving for more important things, we are not forgetting the present.

Till next time. ^_^