Congrats on getting through your first full week of tracking your expenses! If you missed recording any of your spending, saving, or giving, that’s okay. Take some time to catch up and record them now.
Today’s Assignment
- Get caught up. Record any transactions in Goodbudget that you missed earlier in the week. Tip: If you find it hard to record your expenses right when they happen, hang on to your receipts and put them in a place you won’t lose them. At the end of the week, look at the receipts and make sure you’ve logged all of them. As you continue tracking your spending and experiment with different techniques, you’ll figure out what works for you.
- Reflect on the week. What surprised you about your own spending? What was challenging about the week? What was fun or brought you joy? Don’t forget to share your reflection with your budgeting partner. And leave a comment below to let your fellow budgeters know how it went too!
Note for couples: It’s very possible one of you is a more detailed tracker, while the other might be better at seeing the big picture. That’s okay, and it’s actually a strength! Agree on a system that will allow you both to get the info you need, while playing to each person’s strengths. In some couples, one person hangs on to receipts, and the other puts them in. Or in others, one person only puts in their own cash transactions, while the other puts in everything from the debit card by logging into their bank’s website.
Happy budgeting,
-The Goodbudget Team
5 thoughts on “When We Fall Behind…”
I had a conversation with my budgeting partner about how much I eat out. I think it’s higher than it could be, but it brings me some joy and enjoyment, so I’m going to have to figure out a happy medium.
I am definitely the logger in my relationship, and my husband is definitely the “bigger picture” type, so I let him know where we’re at with the spending when we start to get low and we both ease back.
I noticed how much we eat out during the week. We definitely need to budget that expense.
I found that I started to not add things into my budget. My husband and I both spend out of the same account and he forgets to tell me when he spends money or how much he spends which makes me feel like I will never have the account balanced. It can be frustrating. We are working on the communication part now.
I am generally really good at keeping receipts. And have a specific place i put them. So this should go pretty smoothly.