Day 1 - resolutions

Ok I know technically yesterday was December 1st - but I made my resolutions yesterday so today would be my first 'test'.  And I am happy to announce that I got up and walked for 30 minutes this morning.  This is huge for me - I have been incredibly tired lately and I despise exercising.  But.... I did it.  I feel better and am happy with myself.

I thought I would expand a bit more on our budget as I've had some questions about it and I've also had some friends voice interest in wanting to join in with this resolution :)

I actually have two methods - one is the cash envelope system and the other is spreadsheet where I track everything.  yes.... I may be a bit OCD but I love numbers. ha!  For those who don't know what the cash system (CS) is, you basically take sections of your budget (you need a budget and I'll do a post on that soon) and withdrawal the cash from your checking account, label your envelopes and spend the money out of there.  When the money is gone - it's gone!!!!  It makes a huge difference to actually see the money disappearing - I really wanted to make sure I had a twenty left in there for the last week for milk, eggs, fruit, etc.  So I was very cautious with my spending.

For this month I will use the cash system for the following three expenses - Groceries, Restaurants (eating out), and Rite-Aid/CVS.   The drugstore envelope is new but I have found I'm way overspending there even if the stuff is free... I really don't need it.  So I am allowing myself $40 to start with - and I can only spend that amount of cash - any extrabucks or UP+rewards that I earn don't count towards the $40.  Does that make sense? 

So in summary -

Exercise:
week 1 - X (1 time so far)

Spending:
Groceries - $300 - $0 spent
Restaurants - $40 - $0 spent
Rite-Aid/CVS - $40 - $0 spent