I think having a visual representation of your spending is just a tool that you could use to help you with your decision making. If you have everything listed then you can then make a plan on which changes you should be making such as things to cut out or where better to spend your money, but you are right in that ultimately it is the ability to understand the budget and make changes and sacrifices when necessary that really leads to savings.
That is true when you think about. I could budget for a dinner out once a week that I might not need. The same thing could be said if I did that with clothing every week. I think that if you sit and think about the things that you might need, and can't live without you will have a better judgment. I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who do have a budget and they don't always spend money on things that they need.
When you are setting up a budget you have to be disciplined and follow it to a tee in order to save money. It is easy to do up the budget but it is much more difficult to stick with it. Budgets are great and they can really work if you want them to. I set up a budget each month and I try my best to stick to it but I have months where I don't follow it faithfully. It is a guideline though and that helps.
I haven't seriously ever tried to budget. I will sometimes only take a certain amount to the grocery store though and then end up putting items back or buying them somewher else because i remembered I had money on another card or something. I find with budgeting the best laid plans sometimes run afoul and that is what i think would happen if I tried to stick to a budget. I know me.
I have tried to budget, but I can't seem to stick to it. Does anyone know of some helpful blogs that might have some things on this matter? I try, but it either seems too complicated or not for me.
