My Income Tax Statements

Ever wonder where all the money has gone since last payday? When I receive my income tax statements (W2’s) in the beginning of each year, I always wonder what I spent all of that money on throughout the last year. Normally, I don’t question the amount of money that I receive on a weekly or bi-weekly basis as much as I do when viewing my yearly income statements. I chose to create a budget to save at least six months’ worth of all my monthly expenses in the event that I am ever unemployed or my health prevents me from working. Although budgets are hard to stick to, I always use them to keep track of spending habits and as a tool for saving money for emergencies.

Successful business owners use accountants and bookkeepers to help them keep track

This was mainly due to the fact that I was not keeping track of small purchases that I made on a daily. Unaccounted for small purchases added up substantially for me over a short period of time. I made it a daily habit to stop by Starbucks’s each morning to get a cup of coffee or tea. Most work days, I went to a fast food restaurant for either breakfast or lunch and on weekend nights I would sometimes order take-out for the kids and I to eat for dinner. I never took into account how much money I was spending weekly or monthly on these smaller purchases until I found myself running out of money before the next payday too frequently. I knew that I needed to make some major changes in my spending to fix this problem. For a solution to my problem, I began making a pot of coffee at home each morning and taking a large travel cup full of coffee to work with me. I likewise began to buy snacks and other foods from the grocery stores in bulk to take to work with me for my breaks, breakfast and lunch. Instead of buying pizza or Chinese food on the weekends, my kids and I began making our own pizzas at home. I started buying household items in bulk opposed to monthly as I did before my budget. I made saving money a fun game by finding as many ways that I could to save

For some, it’s like a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, shortly after the commitment is made to start, it doesn’t take long to fall off the bandwagon and resume old habits. For me, discipline and determination were the main factors that allowed me to create and utilize budgets for so long. I no longer need to use them as much as I did in the beginning, since I have decreased my old spending habits and formed new premeditated spending habits through the practice and repetition of using a