I do look at the “food” category and sub categorize groceries and restaurants. The sum of the two stays pretty constant from month to month. Like you said, if one goes up, it usually means the other goes down.

I also do a snapshot of my liquid assets/liabilities on a given day each month. It is so exciting to watch the net (my EF) grow from month to month.

I find the “what category should restaurants be in” topic interesting. I have “groceries” and “restaurants” as sub-categories of “food”. If I spend more than usual on groceries, that may not be a bad thing if it is more than offset by less spending on restaurants. That just means I am making more dinners at home. The total should go down.

Another checkpoint I use that is helpful is I pick a day in a month and take a snapshot of all liquid assets (checking and savings) and all liabilities (CC, car loans, minus mortgage) to see how my emergency fund is changing. For me, that day is the 12th of every month since most of my accounts close around that time and I am already reconciling them. I am also a statistics junkie and love to see my savings rate over a full year.

For example, stuff like toilet paper, soap, cleaning products, etc…

I tend to stock up if there’s a sale since I figure I’ll always need to use it, but that does mess up my budget sometimes.

I know I’m probably over-thinking it, but I’m also a stat junkie and I get a weird joy knowing exactly where my money goes

After the year is up, I save everything in the box and store it. The trouble is that I keep things too long, and several years ago, I had years worth of Day-Timers, including every credit card bill. I don’t have a shredder, but there was just too much there to rip up. So I enlisted the help of a friend and her fireplace. LOL Good thing she is 100% trustworthy

There can be no better way to start Financial Literacy Month than by focusing on the starting point for those wishing to increase their financial literacy, creating a financial plan, AKA “a budget”.

Great job!

The goal is to have complete control/mastery over our money. However, the best one can do is *almost* complete, because we don’t decide exactly how much we are going to be charged for things. We can’t say no to rent or utilities, and we can only say no to certain grocery items when they are outrageously priced.

The way we do things, we are forced to save. Some people are incapable of doing that, and instead get tax refunds. Any expense that can be paid annually vs monthly, we pay annually, like car insurance. We pay no interest on anything. We don’t get tax refunds, and consequently have full control of our income. It belongs to us, not the government, and we don’t have to count on them to have our own money to give back to us. What seems weird to me is that some people getting refunds don’t seem to realize that it is their money in the first place. They get the refund and think it is “free” money or a bonus. LOL And for some reason, they sometimes seem not to respect that money, and they spend it away asap.

Great tools and really well presented.

Thanks