Budgeting 101

The past week I have been stewing over reviewing our finances and creating a plan.

I have some serious changes to make in order to be able to control this situation better.  To be honest, I have not kept a check register in the past few years.  Nor have I even opened a bank statement other than to do a quick balance check every now and then.  I didn't need to.  I always knew there was plenty of money to pay the bills and take care of our wants.

So this past week I have gathered together the past several months of bank statements and sat down to take a look.  There is really no good starting point to this project when this has been neglected for so long now. 

In order to get this together I thought it best to have the right tools for the job. 

Ahhh, yes, Quicken, that has sat idly on my computer for well over a year will now be utilized.

Pathetic, I know.  How could someone be so flippant with their fiances?  Much less someone who in the past has scrutinized every family transaction down to the penny?

But I was.

And now I have a mess to straighten out.

My first step...

My husband and I have turned our checkbooks in and agreed that there will be one book of checks only going at a time.  Yes, we still write checks.  I have always avoided debit cards because of the lack of control it gave me and it seems I have lost control anyway.

The second step...

Creating the Budget!

To do this, I need to see where the money is going.  Quicken will help me do this.

After reviewing the statements I have decided to go back the past two statements and make this my starting point.  This should be enough history to catch up and see any outstanding checks but also give me an idea of where the money goes in order to help create a budget.