Back in September, I started to realize I had accumulated a lot of plain ol' stuff over the past few months since getting my first real job as a waitress. I was making good money during one of the busiest restaurant seasons and saving a good chunk of it, but also spending way more than I'd like to admit. 

I had tried apps like Mint to budget my spending in the past before I got my job, but it always glitched on me, lost my data, and I wouldn't keep up with my cash flow. It just didn't work and I didn't trust other money apps to do the job (if you have suggestions on some I could try, I'd love to hear what you use). So I decided to go the old-fashioned route and do a budget with pen and paper, my usual go-to for organizing and planning. 

I made my first budget last October with specific goals like no spend days and a no spend weekend (they kinda worked out) and putting away around $100 into saving, which I didn't know at the time would be so easy to do. Each category such as Eating Out, Clothes, Coffee had a different set budget and for the most part, I stayed at or under my budgets. 

But Clothes and Eating Out? Oh Lordy. It took the month of October to realize just how much I was spending on such frivolous things. 

I documented everything I spent or made in October as well as kept track of my tips, checks, and what I was putting into savings. I was really proud of myself and it felt like a game to me, never becoming a hassle to go through my receipts and bank statements. I learned a lot and reflected on it in my November budget plan.

November's Budget was a reflecting period that really helped me focus on my spending and my abundance of it. I listed what I needed to improve on (less eating out, more cooking at home), what roadblocks I kept coming to (made shopping a hobby, had a bad case of Fear of Missing Out), and what advantages I was working with in November (pick up in business at the restaurant and more free time to cook and spend time at home). 

I also made November a No Spend month for clothes, which was quite intimidating at first, but by the second week, it turned into a breeze. Sadly, I had stopped documenting my spending and money flow since the holidays and school were picking up and getting more consuming. I didn't even bother making a budget for December, something I regret now seeing that I have little money left after the holidays.

But here we are in January! And with my surplus of time before school starts and with the scent of new beginnings in the air, I've already created my January Budget and have saved my receipts to document. I'll share it in my next post to keep this from being a novella. 

ooh, the suspense!

What I wanted to say with this post, however, is that it's always okay to fail at keeping up with a habit, hobby, or budget. Yes, it would have helped me financially to have kept up the budget, but I was just plain busy these past few months, as was everyone. So I'm not beating myself up about it, I'm just restarting! And you can restart at any time, that's the beauty of living. Every breath is a new beginning. 

So just breathe and the rest will follow.