When was the last time you made a budget? Most people I know
make budgets, are very proud of their budgets, and then fail to follow
them. Some of my friends don’t even last one month on their budgets. Why is that? It’s not like they are cutting things out of their lives
that they can’t do without; they just can’t trim the fat off of their
monthly consumption. There are some good ways to see where the
fat in your expenses lies. First, gather as many of your home expense
bills as possible. This means your water, heat, electricity, phone,
cable, etc. Then find all the bills relating to your regular car maintenance. Make a list of all the things you spend money on regularly that
don’t fall into those two categories (i.e., food, credit card payments,
auto loan repayments, mortgage, education, etc.). If you don’t have
this information, make the most accurate estimate possible. Be careful that you don’t double count. If you use your charge cards to pay
for gas and oil changes for your cars, don’t count this twice
