Insight #197

See, this is why I secretly love tracking what I spend. It's annoying, yes, but that's not really due to the tedium--but rather being constantly exposed to one's financial self. Painful but oh so informative.

Money is tight. Work is uneasy. The economy is ailing--we haven't even begun to see some of the fallout. If 2008 was the Great Unraveling, 2009 is going to be the Great Reckoning.

For my family, the absolute top priority right now is building up the saving account we have for emergencies. How are we going to substantially increase what we save? By tracking what we spend and noticing all those spending blind spots and reining them in.

Right now, in addition to retirement, we save about $400 a month--$200 for unexpected expenses (like car and house repairs) and $200 for emergencies (like an accident or job loss). It's not nearly enough, when you consider all the hidden expenses of life. Just recently some serious cracks appeared in the exterior of our stone chimney; some rocks fell into the gutter and the garden. Chimney guy says it could cost about $2,500 to fix!

I'm convinced that we overspend on groceries and all sorts of little things--this month is when I'm going to hunt down all those excesses and kill 'em! Like some financial version of Warcraft (do I have the right game?).

So as you monitor where your money goes this month, stay in touch with your own greater goal. How are you going to use this information? What do you want to accomplish? This shouldn't be an exercise in self-torture, but plotting ways to make your life better.