With gas and food prices higher than they were last year, paychecks have stayed the same. There are ways to make
your checks seem like they are growing. There are ways to increase the amount of money you have to spend each month by as much as 20 percent by paying attention how you are
spending and developing a plan to target problem spending areas.
Track your spending habits to find out where your money is going. Record your purchases every day. Do this for a few weeks. Costs associated with daily activities like smoking, drinking, eating out and buying coffee can really add up in a month.
Another idea is to see how low you can keep your expenses for a few months. An example, pretend your pay check has been cut in half. It’s easy to lose track since spending is a routine part of life. You can’t know what you should do differently until you know how you’ve been spending your money.
Group regular expenses into categories; combine similar expenses into one category. This will help you identify where you are spending the most money. Once spending habits have been identified, work to change areas where you are spending more than you would like to.