Where's All My Money Going?

For a college student, I make fairly decent money. Well, at least that is what my pay stubs say every two weeks when I pick them up from my employer. Sometimes I just stare at the number wondering where in the world all that money could have gone. Did I really go out to eat that much? How many tanks of gas did I need to put in my car? Should I have extreme couponed a little bit more? 

Needless to say, I realized I needed to take a little bit better look at where I was spending money the most. If I wanted to be in control of my life, I needed to be in control of my finances a little bit better than what I was doing. 

What's an easy way to do that, though? How can I find out where all my money is going?

A weekly task I had already been taking part in was a weekly food diary to document what I was eating and where I was eating the most. 

For more information about the Food Diary, check out the blog post on the Food Diary. It'll be helpful for the rest of this blog post!

In the same section where you write down the foods you are eating each day, leave a little section to tally up a dollar amount for what you spent money on. It can be incredibly eye opening to see what items you spend the most money on. 

After two weeks of writing down what I was spending money on, I came to some conclusions. 

1. I put roughly $40 of gas in my car every two weeks. Maybe I should cut back on driving when I can!

2. I go out to eat at least 3 times a week at fast food restaurants. The same amount of money (roughly $30) could be spent on fresh, healthy foods from a grocery store and would last twice as long.

3. I spend an average of $15 on Twix every week. Can you say addicted? Because I can. I spend a lot of money on Twix candy bars. Roughly $60 a month actually. That's more than a whole tank of gas! My new goal is to cut back to a Twix candy bar every few weeks, rather than once or twice every day. 

After looking at what I was spending my money on, I figured out areas I could cut back on and set a weekly budget of $30 total for gas, groceries and extras. It's hard starting out, but thinking of all the money I might have left over is a very motivating influence. 

I suggest you try it out too! See where your money is going! Learning things about yourself can be insightful and kind of fun!