Journaling - Day 3

I've been out of commission for the past couple days.  Nudgie passed her stomach bug on to me and I've been feeling really crappy.  (No pun intended!)

But, I'm back.....feeling a bit better, finally.  And ready to be accountable for my last few days.

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So, the past few days, I've been really good about tracking what I've been spending since pay day.  I found this great online tracking program that's been very helpful.  To check it out, click here.  I was a little bad at not writing things down right away, but one morning, I just sat down with my receipts, check book, computer and documented every cent.  Big step for me.

Normally, I start off with good intentions and then lose steam.  I forget to write things down so then I'm very vague about our bank balance.  But really -- it was just sheer laziness.  Then I would be stuck with a wallet full of receipts that I didn't track.  I'd get frustrated and just throw them away.

But not this time.  I made a point of writing everything down and putting it into my online spending diary.  Seeing that little pie chart is helping me to see where all the money is going.

But in spite of my small victory with tracking.  I did fall off the wagon.  The other day, I went to Barnes and Noble and spent $60.  Unplanned spending.  Stuff I didn't need.  Books for the girls.  Two books for me.  Why?  I don't know.  I didn't need any of it.  I ended up putting the stuff I bought for the girls in our Christmas closet -- meaning they'll get them for Christmas.  My two books are sitting on the ever-growing pile of "to read" books that I've been hoarding buying for as long as I can remember.

Funny thing is - just that morning, I'd gone through my huge stockpile and made an even bigger pile of books that I was going to list for sale on eBay.  Let me go over that again.....I just got RID of over 40+ books to the eBay pile and then an hour later added two more books to my stash.  What kind of insanity is that?

It's the insanity of compulsive spending.  There's no rhyme or reason to it.  But I'm hoping (and praying) that by writing this blog that I can start to peel away the onion-like layers of my problem.  That I can be accountable.

One day at a time.