Write down every dollar you spend.

Every time we leave the house we spend money.  Whether it's gas, groceries, a lotto ticket, lunch, or paying a bill the list goes on and on.  And now with auto bill pay, on line shopping, and ebay we can spend money from home.  It's so easy that it's hard to keep track of it all. 

Before we know where to cut back and make adjustments we have to know where the money is going now.  Even the best budget will fail if you don't stick to it.  What we think we are doing and what we are actually doing can often be two different things. 

Whether you have made a budget yet or not it's a good idea to write down every dollar you spend at least for a month.  If you are comfortable with excel you can input all you information with a code by catagory, sort it and see how much you have spent.  If you don't like computers a 13 column spreadsheet will allow you to do it manually.

Next time you ask yourself "Where did all the money go?" it's time to start writing it down.