Im not sure about others, but I have always struggled with my spending habits. I have even posted on here previously about this, and have received some helpful advice from other more frugal people on the forum. I wont say I am bad with money, I actually consider myself fairly frugal - especially compared to my work colleagues - though I do know how to spend money!
One of the most valuable threads on here that I have read was Simons "taming the debt monster" which was made a sticky, and has now extended to about 20pages of posts.
The best thing I took from this was "track your spending". What usually happens though is that I note my spending has faltered - I track it for a month or two - then lose interest once I have reigned myself back in.
Given my circumstances I am currently running a multiple of of bank accounts across a number of banks and have always had trouble "balancing" my accounts given all of the constant transfers in and out (not actual spending just transfers).
I know this shouldn't be so hard for me, but, lets face it, Im lazy with it.
However, I think finaly my prayers have been answered and I have found this little doozy which does most of the hard work for me.
https://getpocketbook.com/about
Ok - so you do need to provide your account details, but I have done some research and they seem to be relatively safe. There is a competing brand called Mint.com (those of you who read MMM will know of this) but it is US based and doesnt accept Australian accounts.
But it will give you a break down by spending category and breaks it into a nice little graph for you. It also has a memory, so once you change a description of a payment once, it remembers it.
You can change the reporting period to show you week, month or year - very handy.
I have only been using it for a week or so, but like it already.
What did I discover - some scary stuff about my spending habits. While I dont spend that much really (about $60k/year), I should be able to spend much much less, especially given I dont have any "normal life" costs (cars, house, phone, kids, etc etc).
The most disturbing thing I found was that I spend on average $250/week in restaurants and Bars!!!
If I didnt live in Narnia, I would be broke!
Blacky
One of the most valuable threads on here that I have read was Simons "taming the debt monster" which was made a sticky, and has now extended to about 20pages of posts.
The best thing I took from this was "track your spending". What usually happens though is that I note my spending has faltered - I track it for a month or two - then lose interest once I have reigned myself back in.
Given my circumstances I am currently running a multiple of of bank accounts across a number of banks and have always had trouble "balancing" my accounts given all of the constant transfers in and out (not actual spending just transfers).
I know this shouldn't be so hard for me, but, lets face it, Im lazy with it.
However, I think finaly my prayers have been answered and I have found this little doozy which does most of the hard work for me.
https://getpocketbook.com/about
Ok - so you do need to provide your account details, but I have done some research and they seem to be relatively safe. There is a competing brand called Mint.com (those of you who read MMM will know of this) but it is US based and doesnt accept Australian accounts.
But it will give you a break down by spending category and breaks it into a nice little graph for you. It also has a memory, so once you change a description of a payment once, it remembers it.
You can change the reporting period to show you week, month or year - very handy.
I have only been using it for a week or so, but like it already.
What did I discover - some scary stuff about my spending habits. While I dont spend that much really (about $60k/year), I should be able to spend much much less, especially given I dont have any "normal life" costs (cars, house, phone, kids, etc etc).
The most disturbing thing I found was that I spend on average $250/week in restaurants and Bars!!!
If I didnt live in Narnia, I would be broke!
Blacky