BEST FINANCE TIP EVER

The best tip I learned in the last six months - Keep track of your spending. Every last penny. Knowledge is power, once you know where your money is going you can figure out where you can start cutting back and saving.

Here is an extract from my financial diary. If you read it, you'll understand why I think keeping track is so important.

Day 1 Sunday

Handing over my pay slips, cards, and recording all my debts.

Golly that was shameful. I felt ashamed of my excess. A few decisions were made.
No more credit cards. They were to be paid off and put away.

Sunday evening. So far? So good.
It never occurred to me that my roommate would include the groceries as something I would take out of my 150 dollar budget allowance for the week. That was meant to be happiness money. Cake and cinema ticket monies. For that money? I could eat jello everyday. But my groceries and toiletries. . . no. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That’s jello maybe once a week. Maybe. How much is jello anyway (good grief – why don’t I know the answer to that?) But that is precisely the boat I have landed myself in. I am truly on a frugal budget.

Imagine not knowing the price of something you buy on a weekly basis. It's practically criminal. I have learned the price of everything I now shop for. I hope my story encourages you to do the same.