Oh My...where does all the money go?

one word....buget

sit down and figure out how much you spend each month and how much you make each month.....

then figure out what you absolutely NEED to keep, and what youc an get rid of......

it's tough, but it can be done!

good luck!!!!

Write down what you are spending money on. This can be a big reality check. From there you should be able to figure out what is necessary, what can be cut down and what can be cut out.

Set up a budget based on:

fixed expenses (rent/mortgage, utilties, car payments, etc.),

debt payments (if you have any credit card, student loans, or other debt),

savings goals (ideally you want to be saving something for a rainy day)

spending money (transportation, food, entertainment etc).

It can take a while to get really rolling but it helps to be aware of where all the money is going and where it should be.

Good luck.

I always feel like this too - that our money is there one day, and gone the next! But, we know where it's going, and although we are not living above our means, we make sure we can pay all the bills and still have a cushion left in the bank afterwards. My suggestion> If you havent already, you really need to sit down the two of you and literally write dow all the money you make (monthly,weekly, whatever works) and see where your money is going. You NEED to know how you spend your money otherwise it's always going to seem like it's just vanishing. It's boring and dull, but it's really worth your time to go through this - break it down by your monthly expenses, and see how much is left after evrythign is paid. DH and I did this when we first started looking at houses, and you know what? Looking at it on paper made us realize that were were spending almost 500 a MONTH on things we could do without!!! That was $6000 a year just down the tubes The visual really helps it stick in your head too, so give it a try - and good luck!

Sorry, I work in publishing and just couldn't resist some book recommendations

Here are a few more really wonderful books for financial planning and budgeting too - hope this helps!


It Pays to Talk -
Charles Schwab/Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz

7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life -
Michelle Singletary

The One Minute Millionaire-
Mark Victor Hansen/Robert G. Allen

Im actually amazed at how stupidly we were spending our money before the wedding plans. We sat down and saw that we’ve put in thousands of dollars into our wedding in less than half a year.

Why can’t we pay off our debt then? The amount of my wedding is much more than my total debt. To sit and look at it is annoying for me. Money wasted on my ‘one day’ that could have easily paid off all my debt and started a ‘life’ much easier.

So that’s why we are staying with his family after the big day to give us another 6 months to apply the same budget but instead of ‘pay hall, pay photo’ it’s going to be ‘pay credit card, pay student loan’.

I swear by my budget!!!