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comment by blackbootz
blackbootz  ·  2163 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: April 25, 2018

I have tracked nearly every expense since July 2014, and written out a budget for about 6-month periods since around the same time. (Keeping within that budget is another beast--I always seem to underestimate my spending by about 10-20%...) The reason for the short budgetary periods is that between traveling, service work, and atypical job lengths, I didn't have anything even approaching a regular schedule of income and expenses. That's changed somewhat, and the situation promises to be much more regular if I take a corporate job after I graduate.

But yea, knowing what you spend your money on is a huge first step that a lot of people don't even take. I know people who brag about never looking at their checking account.