I am often bewildered when I receive our credit card bill each month. Why is it so high? Why are we not on or under budget (ha ha!)? In reality, I know I’ve done a good job with our financial plan and budget and the only category that we have trouble with is ‘entertainment and other’. And, no, I’m not piling everything into that category! There are a couple reasons:

• There are two of us dabbling into Entertainment and Other
• Life is busy, we both work and don’t often keep track of the treats or little things to make our week easier
• We go out for coffee too much!

 It may seem overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Even if you don’t have a formal budget, you probably have a dollar amount in your mind for certain categories. Most budget categories are fixed or regular monthly spending such as housing, food, transportation, bills, loans and savings. The key categories requiring some spending discipline may include:

• Holidays and weekends away
• Recreation
• Entertainment (including eating out)
• Clothing
• Interests and hobbies

Some of these can be budgeted and ‘saved’ for each month as you may spend on them irregularly (once every few months) and the ‘save before you spend’ plan works well. Other things like discretionary entertainment spending are more difficult to control within your budget amount….unfortunately cash might be the most disciplined method for these. Take out the weekly budget in cash, put it in your wallet and it’s much easier to manage. When it’s gone, it’s gone!