Great job with yesterday’s assignment! Let’s keep this momentum going. We’ve been working on noticing our spending while it’s happening. Now we want to shift to begin noticing our spending before it happens. If we can do that, we’ll give ourselves the opportunity to check our budgets before it’s too late.
John, a Goodbudgeting pro, said,
“My Envelope’s balance bar indicates whether I am ahead or behind on the current day of the month, so when I go shopping, I can refer to my cell phone. That allows me to focus on my family’s priorities to find the best value for my dollar at the current time.”
Because John knows how much he has to spend, he can focus on finding products that are within his budget and also work for his family. That’s where we want to be too!
Today’s Assignment
- Notice when you think “I am going to spend.” Today’s task is simple: Notice moments when you think you are going to spend before you swipe your card. That might be when you’re running errands and find yourself in need of coffee. When you notice you’re about spend, consult your budget to make sure there’s enough for the expense.
- What was it like to shift from noticing while you were spending to noticing before you spent? Let us know and the other readers know how that shift was for you by leaving a comment below.
Happy budgeting,
-The Goodbudget Team
9 thoughts on “Notice *Before* You Spend”
It made me more conscious of my laziness… I commute home past a bunch of restaurants and often I’m like let’s just take the day off… then when I actually spend I’m like ugh but at that point I’ve already eaten.
This is the hard part! I sometimes find that I don’t *want* to look.
I find that’s sometimes true for me too! I think I don’t want to look if I know I’m already close to going over. Do you have a guess why you don’t want to look?
This is a tough one, particularly on busy days! I noticed that I have a tendency to blow off steam by shopping online. On days where I have a little bit more space, I can talk myself out of it just by asking if I really do need to purchase the item or by budgeting for it.
I like being able to know I don’t have to worry about whatever I’m buying because that takes out the enjoyment of it entirely.
Balance bar?
I expulsado like a picture attached to this lesson.
Is it the red/green bar?
What is the black vértice line mean?
Hi Michaelette,
The balance bar is the bar that shows the balance of your Envelopes and Accounts. You can read more about it here: https://goodbudget-qa.dayspring-tech.com/help/budgeting-with-goodbudget/how-much-left-in-envelope/
Additionally, you can read about the black vertical line here: https://goodbudget-qa.dayspring-tech.com/help/budgeting-with-goodbudget/black-line/
Hope that helps!
I have been this for years now so it was easy for me.
I found myself in the McDonalds drive thru and I looked at my balance for eating out and it was getting low so I made the decision to get out of the drive thru line and go home instead. Nice to feel like I made a good decision based on what I want to spend in the future.