Taking control over money means taking control over spending. But, before we could do that, we needed to figure out where all of it was being spent. By organizing our finances we were able to figure out why we did not have "enough" money to live exactly as we wanted: we had too many high monthly bills, a lot of which were debt-related. Since debt comes as a result of spending, we have had to really look at our spending. Part of our effort here is to change our finances but with the least impact on the important things in our life. So, we had to figure out what we were spending on, what we did not need or want, and how we could change our spending in certain areas so that we could have "extra" money to stop using credit cards and implement our debt-reduction and savings' plans. The biggest surprise was when we found that we were a lot more extravagant than we thought: we thought that since we did not drive "fancy" cars or take "fancy" vacations or turn our house into a designer beauty, that we were not extravagant. Turns out extravagance is in the eye of the beholder: if you do not care about what you are spending money on, you will waste it. Any waste of money is extravagant spending, so we change our relationship to money to stop wasting it.
Then, I started to tackle the places where we could spend less. I found out a lot about getting value out of our spending, insurance, discount shopping, and using our benefits at work more wisely. These things have allowed us to reduce our monthly bills without losing what is important to us, and will help us to maintain control over our spending in the future. Most importantly was changing our relationship to money. But I am also looking forward to implementing more ideas as I accumulate them. I still have a step in the plan that I hope to implement this week: creating a Quicken cash account to really track all those dollar bills that just float out the door. What follows are links to the articles that show the various changes we have made to our spending habits. I really feel as though we are taking control over spending and look forward to future changes. Remember: I did a lot of research to find things that the average person can do that can make them much better off financially. I did not ask for help from a financial planner (although for some people, this might be a good idea). I learned by researching and listening to people I respect. And, while experts are useful for some things, when it comes to money, be careful of the Get Rich Quick types or the ones who know the "secret." The secret is you need to control yourself: you finances overall, your spending, your debt, your income, and your savings. That is how you will be taking control over money.