What is Measured Improves!
Posted by Gail | Filed under Goals
Have you ever noticed that when you start something new you’re all gung-ho, but as time goes by our energy and effort wanes? Hey, it’s human. Once we lose our initial lust for our goal, it turns into something that feels more like concrete shoes.
When you’re working toward a goal, staying focused on what you’ve achieved so you stay motivated to keep going can be a huge challenge. Having knocked a $2,000 credit card balance back to zero, you may find your motivation to attack that student loan lagging. It can feel like a long haul to Debt-Free Forever when you start to discount what you’ve achieved and look only at the hole you’re in.
There are things you can do to keep the blush on the rose; measuring your progress is one way to stay focused and keep yourself motivated.
One of the best reasons to measure how you’re doing is that by nature we humans are delusional. Witness all the people who have no idea how much they’re spending every month on everything from coffee to magazines, groceries to booze, entertainment to exercise. People who aren’t measuring their spending can convince themselves that they’re not spending all that much. Once they start tracking where their money is going, they are blown away by how much they can save by paying attention.
If you don’t want to underestimate your progress or over-estimate your abilities, then measuring how you’re actually doing is the ticket. By recording how you’re doing, you can look at a picture that reflects your reality, not what you think is your reality. You can appreciate what you have – what you’ve accomplished in moving towards your goal. And you can see how you’re doing, measuring your improvement and tweaking your plan to keep moving forward.
I can hear some of you moaning now… “But Gail, all that measuring takes time I don’t have.” Really? You’re trying to achieve a goal that you’ve said is important, but you don’t have time to check in and see how you’re doing? Or is it that you’re afraid you’re going to miss the mark and would rather keep your head buried in your delusion?
If you make a habit of checking up on your progress, in no time at all it’ll become second nature and it won’t feel like a chore. When measuring your progress becomes part of your routine, you’ll find moving towards your goals – particularly the big ones that take longer to come to fruition – a smoother process.
While getting in the habit of writing down all of your expenses will take deliberate effort in the first few weeks, after a year you won’t even think about it. It’ll consume a few minutes each day, but you’ll have worked it into your life and it’ll just be something you do. The payback: You’ll get specific information about where you’re spending your money. And if you ever have to cut back to deal with a change in circumstance, you’ll know just where to trim. You’ll also find it easier to put money towards those priorities that you’ve identified as most important: your goals.
If you can’t even set aside 15 minutes a day to measure how you’re doing, maybe your goal isn’t really all that important to you. Save yourself the aggravation; stop wasting mental energy thinking about it. If you find that what you wanted to achieve lingers as a concern in your mind, then maybe it does matter to you and it’s time to put some real energy into achieving your goal, including measuring your progress.
If you find yourself hugely resistant to measuring your activities on any front, be it keeping a food log to lose weight, a time log to improve your efficiency or a financial log to monitor your spending, it may be that you’re not yet committed to change. Writing it down means making a deal with yourself to do something that has results. If you’re not writing it down, there’s no deal, and you’re off the hook. Course it also means you’re going to keep doing what you know isn’t working. But hey, if you want to hang on to your delusions, that’s a choice you get to make.
March 22, 2010 at 7:23 am
Writing things down and tracking will keep you on the right path…it’s how I keep my finances straight and my excess weight off…do I like doing it??…not really…do I need to keep doing it to stay successful…ABSOLUTELY!!!…
March 22, 2010 at 7:48 am
Good post today, Gail.
You have to commit, honestly.
You have to track what you are doing, or you will not follow through.
And you have to make the time to do it. Turn off the tv… Stop making excuses…
March 22, 2010 at 8:06 am
I have a chart made up for my credit card debt. I have the name of each card at the top, with the amount owing down the side in $100 incriments. When I get my statement each month, I colour in the blocks under each card to show how much I’ve paid.
It serves as a good way to track my goal of paying off all my cards, and it is also a huge motivator as I keep it in clear sight all the time.
I find charts to be a little more tangable than just looking at the numbers. Even a pie chart to show how you’re spending your money monthly is helpful. Plus they are super easy to do in excel.
March 22, 2010 at 8:07 am
It’s hard being honest with yourself and face the truth isn’t it? When my husband started us on using spreadsheets I pushed back — numbers don’t lie and even though we didn’t have anything dreadful I has hiding from, I still didn’t like it. After a few years of living with them, I see the value of long term planning and cash flow.
March 22, 2010 at 8:18 am
“Ignorance is bliss” don’t they say?
I say it’s stupid. Keeping our heads in the sand is going to get us anywhere.
Dawn I like the idea of your chart.
I think having a visual in a prominent place is so helpful. For example, I often keep a calendar page on my fridge and record my fitness there. It’s helpful to *see* if I’ve had a bad week so I can smarten up, or praise myself for a good week!
Spread sheets are great as long as you use them. I’ve tried recording my spending and tracking my calories. I do well for a few weeks and then I forget about it. I have to try again. I’m fine with my spending. It’s the calories i have issue with…
March 22, 2010 at 8:38 am
Tracking our progress and mesuring results is what has got us to get this close to the finishing line. Before I got good bdugeting that allowed me to better track where the money was going I only flopped around trying to get out debt without making some serious inroads into getting to the end of the road.
Now we only have a month or two left before we are debt free and are measuring our performance by how much extra we are saving each month.
Regards,
Jason
March 22, 2010 at 8:42 am
LOL! I so agree with the calories. You’ve presented some great facts here and your thoughts are helping to change the lives of many.
March 22, 2010 at 8:54 am
Yes, it helps to measure what you have done or plan on doing. And yes, sometimes it is daunting and depressing to think of this huge undertaking that you want to wipe clean. But it is better to look at the “little steps” that you take each day and each week to know that it is contributing towards that “bug step”.
I use an Excel spreadsheet and track everything we spend. My husband and I both know that we need to clear up the debt faster than we are doing, and are both looking for part-time jobs. I am hoping that one of us will get a second job soon.
But I remain positive, and heck, it was the first day of spring on Saturday. Something to be happy about.
March 22, 2010 at 8:57 am
Ha! I just re-read my post, and it should read “”big step”, not “bug step”…or maybe I unconsciously did put “bug step” on purpose, because like a bad bug, you want to squish down that debt! lol
March 22, 2010 at 9:25 am
Oh I measure…. I totally measure. I have charts. I have lists where payments get crossed off. I keep track of lump sums I whap onto the loan each month. Stickers rule! I have purdy lil progress bars on my blog. I have to change things up now and again to keep it fresh. I am one to get gung ho and then fade during the lulls.
A very good friend of mine told me once “You’re all about the mountaintops jolie. that’s all you want to do is jump from peak to peak. Don’t forget about those valleys though. They are there and there can be richness from experiencing them too. It’s only through a valley, that you can appreciate the wonder and glory of the mountain top.”
Man I miss him. D*mn ALS (lou gehrigs)
March 22, 2010 at 9:39 am
That’s an awesome saying!! I will try to apply it to my life.
March 22, 2010 at 9:54 am
I kind of cheat a little — it’s not that I am not capable of tracking my spending, or that I don’t have time — I’m lazy. And yes, I could self-improve and *make* myself do it — but, I’m lazy. It’s my nature. I think sometimes success is knowing what to push yourself on and sometimes thinking outside the box to a system that works for you.
I don’t put cash in jars, I pay *everything* humanly possible with one credit card that gives me points. I have online statements, so minimally once a week, I go on and record the information into my budget spreadsheet.
Does it work? Yes, because although I’m lazy, I’m not stupid. I have a goal that I want to achieve that doesn’t stop at becoming debt free, but in building enough savings that I can stop working. Yup, retire early. A lazy person’s dream… sit on the couch, watch the girls on the view argue with each other, than make lunch, write a little or read a book, make dinner, go for walks. Naps! glorious naps.
No ttc bus with people with ill manners, no answering the phone, while typing and someone standing beside me *trying* to make me read their lips NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I’VE TOLD THEM I CAN’T READ LIPS.
I can control my spending on a credit card, I get PC points, I can see my spending anywhere there is an internet. I think I’m going to save up my points so that 1 month I can take *all* of my grocery budget and apply it to debt. That will be cool.
I recently switched to paying Rogers on my credit card, so I’ll get the points for cable. Looking at my bank account on line so frequently has really irritated me about the bank fees I”m paying, never paid much attention before. As soon as I have a little more in my savings account I am going to get rid of overdraft protection.
Paying attention is awesome… you really do see where the pennies go.
March 22, 2010 at 10:00 am
I actually enjoy tracking everything about my finances… and maybe that’s because I’m actually making good headway towards my goals. I love seeing the debt drop like a rock, while the savings accounts grow. I don’t like the time in between pays when nothing changes though… and that’s a problem because hubby gets paid once a month so as a result, we only see movement in the accounts once a month, but that one day each month is a glorious day!
I enjoy tracking all our spending just as much as tracking the bank accounts. Knowing we are managing on our budget without any shortfalls gives us a huge sense of accomplishment! Plus, doing a review of what we actually spent our money on at the end of the month shows us where we might make improvements moving forward. It’s all good! I can’t believe I lived so many years without doing this. I can’t imagine going back to my old ways. It’s been 8 months now since we changed our ways for good!
March 22, 2010 at 10:04 am
Been working with a spreadsheet for over a year now – Yippee! I’ve persisted and it’s become a great habit.
Now that I’m working through finances with a partner again, I LOVE Dawn’s idea of simple charts that I can post in the kitchen so that its super-easy for him to see how we’re progressing. Then hopefully it will take some of the “bad cop” off of me, and seeing what we do gain by saying no to that purchase he wants.
Because you’re right – it’s easy to give up when you can’t actually see any progress, even when you know in your heart that it’s happening.
March 22, 2010 at 10:40 am
I actually find that tracking my spending has been the single easiest thing I’ve ever done that has helped me get more control of my financial situation. It hardly takes any time at all, so time cannot be an excuse not to do it (I think that it’s more to do with avoidance or laziness.)
Measuring is extremely important to success. It’s one of the reasons why I’m thinking about how to track my carbon footprint. more precisely. I’d like to start thinking about how to track my efforts to be more environmentally friendly, monitoring how much waste I’m producing, etc.
March 22, 2010 at 10:40 am
I have a huge bar graph that I keep in my budget binder. It has 2 columns, one for my national student loans and one for my bc student loans. Together, they total $64,000. I actually had to tape 2 pages together to make it big enough. At first, it was very hard to just see the top coloured a tiny bit. Now I’ve paid off like $10,000, you can see it much more and it is definately motivating! I can’t WAIT to be debt free and hope I will be in another 14 months…. But for some reason I can track my spending (budget binder) but I can’t do it for my food. If I do it for food, I go insane and blow my diet if I do something bad at the beginning of the day, or obsess about pounds lost instead of muscles gained or inches lost. I’ve lost a lot of weight before, and I’ve gained some back because I don’t know how to simply start doing things that I can do for the rest of my life. I really enjoy finances. How do I find the same motivation when it comes to food?
March 22, 2010 at 10:41 am
Timely post once again. As others mentioned before, Gail’s blog is more than just a financial coach, its almost a life coach for me. Because the more I read the daily blogs and TAKE actions (very important point), the more I realize that getting your finances in good shapes really affects positively the other aspects of your life.
Previously, I have tracked for 2 years my spending of Excel sheets and gave it up. Then, I tracked my spending for 1 year in a little notebook but gave that up too…. Why did I give up theses techniques… I’m not sure. Probably they weren’t the kind of methods that were really suitable for me. So does that mean tracking my spending is over for me? I would like to say yes, but know in my heart its something important for me. So, I’m committing to setting Gail’s budget binder this week. That will be STEP 1 for me in action these days coming up.
@ Patrenia: loooove the quote on your post: IF NOT NOW, WHEN? woow! how empowering!!
March 22, 2010 at 11:15 am
Anyone know any good apps to keep track of expenses on the iphone?
March 22, 2010 at 11:16 am
I find my problem is that I can’t set up a suitable spread sheet. I have tried several times but I always make them too onerous. Except how do you capture everything if you don’t have a column for everything. Then they get big and too difficult to use. I have also tried to keep track of spending in a book but I lose track easily. Not making excuses because I keep trying to find something that works for me. Anyone willing to share their spread sheets so I can see where I am going wrong?
March 22, 2010 at 11:26 am
I am just at the start of my journey and this post was very timely for me. Like diets and counting calories (which I am also doing), saving money and paying off debt has become of paramount importance to me. I have started my spreadsheet and on another tab behind the master spreadsheet, I have another spreadsheets set up for each credit card/loan with the balance/payment & interest information. Each time a payment is made, I put an x beside it on my master spreadsheet so that I know that it has cleared my bank. I guess everyone does it differently but I found that this works best for me at this point but nothing is set in stone.
I do have a question though – I do have several credit cards that need to be paid off and am starting with the one with the highest interest rate. However my question is, do I put all extra monies toward that one and just minimums on the rest until that one is paid off or do I put most of the extra monies toward that one and a little bit extra on the others (over and above the minimum payments)????
Thanks for your help.
March 22, 2010 at 11:48 am
Wow, great post. It’s so important to measure improvement as a way of dealing with debt fatigue (or to measure backsliding to get back on track!). When I first started reading Gail’s blog and saw her recommendation to do whatever it takes to pay off consumer debt in 3 years, it didn’t seem like that much time. Now, not quite a year-and-a-half into it, 3 years seems like forevvvvvvveeeerrrrrrr. I can see more clearly the psychological benefits of snowballing for those who have several creditors; each time one debt is paid off it’s a tangible marker of progress.
We have only three sources of debt: mortgage, car loan, and LOC. The car loan will be paid off in a few months (and as my sister, who also drives a Toyota, said, “we’ll be driving that car for a long time — no trade-ins!”) and the LOC is less than half of what it was in Jan/09 (more than $30,000 paid since then). But every now and then, it feels as though we’re making no progress — we’re still paying down that same old same old.
I keep a spreadsheet to track the progress, and when I look at it, it helps. It helps to remind myself that once I was always in overdraft; now I keep the minimum balance in my account ($1000) to avoid any fees on that account. The emergency fund is growing — slower than I’d like, but steadily all the same. The car loan will be gone soon; that money can be reallocated. And the LOC should be paid off at least by this time next year.
Still, the road is long, and sometimes uphill! Some days I get excited and I’m proud of the accomplishment; others I’m tired (from those extra jobs I took to pay down the debt faster) and feel quite defeated. Thanks to Gail and everyone here whose comments help to pull me up and keep me going when the going gets tough.
March 22, 2010 at 12:21 pm
btw — I should have stated in my post that I don’t write things down, or keep track on a daily basis.
@Leslie P – My budget is based upon a monthly budget. I check my bank online and PC online and plug in the numbers on that 4 times in a month. Then I print it off, wipe the amounts entered into off, and start the next month over. I think this also helps me emotionally, because each month is a “fresh” start to make budget and then some. My spreadsheet for the month long budget also has percentages for each item listed (with formula) to recalculate so that if I change a number, it automatically changes. I almost flipped when I realized I was spending more than 5% on cable,internet & phone. That’s just plain crazy!
March 22, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Leslie, it all depends on how complicated you choose to make it.
I have a few headings on mine (and it tracks monthly) – I only debit the expenses, I don’t bother crediting the income (unless it’s a month where I receive a GST credit, etc – that money is then “received” and then “used” by sending it to another account.
Once the money is accounted for, I then have headings for “Entertainment” (movies, dinners out, theatre, drinks, lunches, breakfasts out, etc), “Shopping” (clothes), “Planned Expense” (rent, metropass, loan payment, savings, or other pre-authorized payments); “Groceries” (if I’m having a party and need to buy groceries for it, that will go under my personal food tab, rather than our joint expense, which I track elsewhere); “Medical” (prescriptions, etc); “Misc.” (gifts, usually); “Transportation” (this is gas money, Go train to go to my parents, etc). The most difficult part there is pressing the = key and then selecting the actual expense. I let the spreadsheet do all the hard work! (My fingers just get to workout their stretching abilities while I press = and then the arrows, or =sum(range:range)!)
I have monthly tabs, my savings tabs, and my loan tab (calculated out one morning to provide me with information on when my loan will be paid off for each payment made).
March 22, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Mimi – I have the same problem with food. For some reason, finances are no problem! “Oh, I’ve hit my spending quota? Ok”. But food … there are so many yummy tempting things that I know I shouldn’t have, but once the mouth starts salivating … well, it’s over!
Tracking or no tracking, I’m still going to eat (spending you can have no-spend days without a problem – you can’t have no eat-days!).
March 22, 2010 at 12:37 pm
@ Keri, the snowball technique would involve putting the minimum payments on all your creditors other than your highest interest loan. After paying off that loan, you would put all your money towards the next highest interest loan. Personally, when I did this technique, I still payed the monthly interest of my creditors on top of the minimum payment. It just made me feel like I was making some headway. So, first I paid off my $2500 VISA (interest rate 19%), while paying minimum payment + interest on MBNA (minimum payment was often 110, interest was 87$), and now that I’m paying off student loans, I try to find an extra $250 a month to put specifically on interest so that I feel like my payments are going to principal. For the time being, I’m putting all my money on my national student loan (same interest rate but about triple the balance) and every month I put $79 (interest) and $138 a month (minimum payment) on the bc student loan. THat way I know I’m knocking a little down on my BC student loan, even if it’s just a tiny bit. But it depends how much money you have ot play with (I work 1 full time and 2 part time jobs and have no kids), where you can cut in your budget (sometimes I have used some of the “other” money to pay interest). But i’ve definately learnt the importance of having some wiggle room in your budget so you don’t derail much. I use to put $75 a week towards food, 80$ a week towards transp (2 cars), and $25 a week towards entertainment for my husband and I. I found that it was too tight and we were stressing out and always eating the same thing (meat and potatoes) so I loosened it to $100, $100, and $50 respectively. Sorry for the long comment. Hope it helps.
March 22, 2010 at 12:40 pm
budgetpulse.com
It is an excellent website that allows you to track ALL of your spending. And you can also download it to Excel to back it up. Since using budgetpulse.com – I have not turned back. I highly recommend this to those who want to start tracking their spending. The program is quite user friendly and visually, you can see and track your spending. I am addicted to this.
March 22, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Keri – Gail says to pay the min. on all debt and then the leftover on the highest interst rate debt. Once that is paid off then you snowball the money you were paying on the highest debt into the next highest debt and so on….
This is what we are doing. Luckily my husband is getting a bonus this year that we will use to pay off the 3000 LOC. That is our highest % right now. Then we can focus on the next one and so on…
You have the biggest impact this way.
We are finishing up our 3rd month of following our 36 plan to be out of debt. The jars are not that hard. I am concerned about being on mat. leave benefits but we have to wait to see what that will be.
33 months to go and then we will have just over $1400 a month to re jig into our budget/savings!!!!
Thank you Gail. I re-read bits of your book on a reg. basis to keep focused!
March 22, 2010 at 2:01 pm
If we don’t pat ourselves on the pat once in a while – who else is going to? So use whatever method works for you to show your progress…and celebrate!
Me? I’m a dinosaur and use paper and pen. I have used account books since 1969.
So, I can see where I’m at and where I’m going. Between us? I can’t wait to get there! I try to refrain from whining ‘are we there yet?’ every month.
I agree that it’s hard to be the cymbals clanger in a parade. Banging away at them knees lifted high marching trying to keep the momentum of being gung ho in debt reduction. I’m so glad that Gail is the leader in my parade – and she looks so darn cute in that band uniform ;o)
March 22, 2010 at 2:16 pm
We have a big 8′ x 10′ chalkboard wall where we track our expenses. Having it basically “in your face” really helps the entire family stay on track. =)
We also check our net worth once every three months. This really serves as the motivation. Seeing our money increase always makes me happy!
March 22, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I track my expenses in a simple notepad file. I apply Dave Ramsey’s zero balance budget concept and make sure every dollar has a designation.
I write the amount and date of my paychecks at the top and then I write my bills underneath.
Here’s an example:
+ $XXX March 11th
+ $XXX March 25th
- $xx Swim Pass
- $xxx Groceries/Household
-$xx Laundry
- $xx Internet
- $xx Pets
- $xx Cell Phone
- $xx Loan interest
- $xxx Rent May
As soon as I get my paycheck, I send the money where it needs to go and delete the bill/payment from the list. It’s kind of an odd system, but it works for me.
I find budgets to be constraining since some months I need to spend more in certain areas or I need to add some things. As long as my budget = $0 I know I have not spent more than I make.
I’ve been experience some debt fatigue lately but thinking about how far I’ve come and how much better I manage my finances helps me to keep going. I stopped buying stuff that wasn’t meaningful to me and saved up for a trip to Ireland to see my family and the camera I really wanted.
March 22, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Leslie P, using Excel I use one sheet for my fixed expenses and one sheet for variable. On the top I put my categories. I use Gail’s categories – food/personal care, transportation, clothing & gifts, entertainment, and other. On the bottom of the page I have formulas that automatically tabulate how much I’ve spent and how much I have left. I find that this is more than enough room for an entire month.
March 22, 2010 at 4:51 pm
iPhone app: I haven’t used it, but a girlfriend likes “CanIaffordit”
Leslie – make it as simple as possible!
1) I get paid twice a month, so I only budget for two week sections. I can’t manage to wrap my head around extra paycheques or occasional GST cheques. I consider these “bonus” money that can go directly to debt payment or vacation savings or whatever is important. (try to decide ahead of time
March 22, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I enjoy tracking it and it totally motivates me! That’s why I started a blog to be able to see those progress bars go up!! SUCH a motivator. I also write things down and have an excel spreadsheet. All definitely help motivate me to improve, and get rid of that debt!
March 22, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Leslie,
I’m sure there are more ways to track expenses than can be imagined. I am following a super simple method that has worked fabulously for the last 8 months.
Fixed expenses: Near the end of each month I create and print a calendar on the internet, and fill in my fixed expenses based on when they need to be paid. I slot in paydays with estimated pay amounts (approximate value), and any “extra” expenses that are due that month (CAA yearly fee, birthday expenses, etc …). As the date to pay something arrives, I make sure the payment is made (via internet banking mostly) and put a check mark beside each one as it is paid.
Variable expenses: I have my variable expenses categorized into basically the 5 categories that Gail suggests: Groceries/Personal care – Gas for cars – entertainment – clothing/gifts/kids’ expenses and allowances – Other . I keep a book with the jar money and fill it out as I spend money. I dedicate 1 page per category and start a new set of pages each month. Basically, exactly what Gail shows on her TV show.
Occasional Variable Expenses: I have a 6th “hidden jar” that I add money to each month for various occasional or yearly expenses. I kleep track of how much is dedicated to each category that my hidden jar covers. Things that are covered by this jar include car repair, yearly fees for life insurance and CAA, license sticker costs, dinners out, winter gear for the kids, Christmas expenses, Birthday expenses, Charitable donations, school pictures, etc… so when these expenses come up, I draw money from the jar and document it in the small booklet that I keep with that jar.
This system works extremely well for us. It is very low tech and easy to manage with just a pencil and a calculator.
Computer spread sheets would confuse me and I hate being dependent on a functioning computer, electricity and a hard drive that is working properly in order to track my expenses.
March 22, 2010 at 9:25 pm
@ Sunshine – I know…as soon as I saw that quote I knew I had to use it! Thanks for the visit.
March 22, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Emma– food is my budget buster too… when those great sales come on for family staples, I over do it. But about your “no-eat days” They are kind of possible… I call them the “pantry challenge”. I try to devise an entire WEEK with just cooking from the pantry and freezer. I dig right down to the bottom and try to use up those unusual or forgotten items. It is an adventure that the family dreads, but it saves quite a bit of money on the leaner months. By the end of the week we are desperately missing fresh stuff, but hey, there is less chance for freezer burned veggies and meat waste.
But back to Gails topic. Keeping track very closely is the single best way to get results for me. If I feel I am going into a tail spin on anything (chores, diet, work, money) I just make an itemized list and start prioritizing/ categorizing. It keeps me sane and keeps those mole hills from growing!
March 22, 2010 at 11:50 pm
lesliep:
Budgetpulse.com does look good.
I use wesabe.com If you are paranoid, you can set up cash accounts and just enter everything manually (no more trouble than excel) and categorize, which will instantly generate all sorts of charts, both for monthly budgets (use monthly targets) and for spending tracking over time.
If you are slightly less paranoid (me), you can upload transaction files to wesabe that you download from your bank yourself. These contain account information, but no banking passwords.
If you are very trusting, you can sometimes have wesabe download the transactions automatically from the bank, but I don’t think this is very wise.
March 23, 2010 at 7:48 am
Todd, thanks for the tip on budgetpulse.com
I’m going to check that out.
March 23, 2010 at 8:19 am
Thanks everyone for the tips. I am going to investigate the web sites and some other ideas mentioned here and put together something that is personalized for us. I guess I was trying to track everything to specifically and got bogged down quickly. I’m going to dedicate the weekend to getting this in place once and for all.
March 23, 2010 at 12:40 pm
Keeping track of your goals, financial or otherwise is so important as it’s so easy to drift away from reaching your goal. The days are long, but the years are short. If you keep track of the days, the years take care of themselves