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Show No money at end of month By JOANN M. ROSS, M.S. Extension Home Economist USU Extension Service Davis County Do you have too much month left at the end of the money? When spending plans fail to balance, bal-ance, it is often because dollars have dribbled away on miscellaneous items. The result, a lot of unidentified expenses, a "miscellaneous bulge." If you are serious about reducing the "miscellaneous bulge" in your spending plan, keep track of all the money you spend for one month. Choose a method that fits you. You might keep receipts and label them with purchases, or keep track of expenses ex-penses in a small notebook, or write checks for everything and note purchases pur-chases in your check register. Be aware of the small purchases you make. Things like pop, candy, or other snacks, cigarettes, gifts, meals eaten out, cosmetics, gasoline, gaso-line, magazines, or newspapers may account for many of those unidentified uniden-tified miscellaneous expenses. At the end of the month divide the expenses into categories and add up the total for each. This will tell you where your money is going. Look for areas where you are spending spen-ding more than you want to. Which ones can you cut back, or cut out to reduce the "miscellaneous bulge?" Going through this process revealed an expense that one dual income couple decided to live without. They both earned good salaries but struggled to make ends meet each month. They couldn't figure it out. After keeping track of expenses for one month, they discovered to their surprise that they were spending $500 a month on eating lunch out Reducing that amount relieved the financial pressure they were experiencing. Until they went through the process, they didn't realize where their money was going. While the bulge in your spending plan might not be this dramatic, taking a look at where your money goes might help stretch your money to match your month. Resource: ' 'Successful Money Management" (EC 428.1-4) by Dr. Barbara Rowe with Kay W. Hansen and Marsha M. Peterson, Utah State University Cooperative Extension Ex-tension Service, November 1990. |