Reader poll: How much of your income do you spend?

Once you have your daily allowance figured out, you can track your expenses, and figure out whether you're over or under your allowance, and by how much.  It might take a full month to get a good number, as bills and irregular charges add a bunch of variability to the data.

Like goldfish, we like to expand to fill our means.  If you make a lot of money, you're tempted to buy a nice big house.  If you have a nice big house, you are tempted to buy more furniture.  If you happen to have a big yard, or a boat dock, more ideas start spinning.  If you have a big house, you might need to find a higher-paying job.  We'd all like to get to a state of mind where we know what we want, and don't merely spend to fill up spaces in our budget and our environment.  But we have to start somewhere.

Just curiously, how much of your paycheck do you spend on a monthly basis?  Are you living above or below your means?  If you don't know exactly, just guess.  It's anonymous, so you can be honest.

Comments

[Zack]

I'm just starting this personal budgeting stuff and have found and it's hard to keep it up. My best/only trick is to consider it a 'game' and try to 'beat' (lower) my expenses in certain categories. That way it feels more fun when you tally up everything at the end of the month.

This post over at iwillteachyoutoberich had a pretty decent guide to budgeting for beginners...
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/archives/2006/01/2006_makeover_s.html

Good luck!