Track Your Spending

Do you know how much money you spend each month on your living expenses? Most people don’t. It can be shocking when you see a written tally of your monthly expenses for the first time. Knowing how much you spend on groceries, eating out, entertainment, gasoline, utilities, and other things is a powerful way to motivate yourself to cut back.

As an exercise, just keep a simple notebook. At the start of a new month, write down everything you spend money on – every time you eat out, every bill you pay, even that new pack of socks you need. At the end of the month, tally everything up to see where you are. See if you can identify anything you can either cut back on or eliminate to save money.