Excel spreadsheets, here I come…

I would venture to say that I’ve always been fairly good with my money.  I like to pat myself on the back when I see someone who is definitely not good with their money and feel thankful for the money smarts I have.  I generally am able to put off wants in order to meet our needs first, and I’ve always set money aside for savings.

However, I have never been a good with keeping a budget.  While I am always careful, I am not exact in my spending.  I could be more disciplined.

In fact, I need to be more disciplined.

The husband and I have goals.  A house that isn’t attached to someone else’s house, for example.  A garage (there aren’t many things I hate more than scraping ice off my windshield in the morning when it’s 2 degrees outside).  Not having both of us work full-time.  Taking our kids to the beach as they grow up.  A trip to Europe someday, hopefully.

Right now we live comfortably, if not lavishly.  But we have some debt weighing us down.  We both work- a little too hard it feels like at times.  I’d like to change that.  I’d like to get us to the point where our debt is gone and eventually I can stay home with my kiddos.

So, in order to accomplish this (as well as one of my new year’s resolutions!  I’m really sticking to them!), I’ve decided to start reading Miserly Moms: Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy for some tips on how to reach my goal.  So far I’m intrigued…and a little scared.  I see where the author is coming from, but can I really do it?  It’s not exactly easy, but it may be worth it.

Do you have a budget?  If so, how do you manage to stick to it?

Tags: book review, budget

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