Money money money

I spent the whole of last year thinking I was making lots of money from my growing business. I told myself I'd save half of it and spend half of it. Naturally, I had big dreams of investing my money in a condo or maybe the stock market. After all I did major in finance! I KNEW I had to save. 

I also thought it would be a piece of cake. All I needed was discipline. And that was one thing I had - or at least I thought I did!

Here's what happened...

As I followed my GRAND plan to save, a new gym opened up near my house. It only made sense to sign myself up. After all they were cheaper than the other blood sucking fitness centers. So I dipped into the savings a bit. Hey - no big deal! It was only RM 1,000! And I'll definitely use the gym!

Guilty from investing in the gym, I spent the next few months working really hard! And because I worked so hard - a holiday was well deserved wasn't it? And how often do I go on holidays after all? So I figured I'd SPLURGE a bit! Stay in a nice hotel with a nice few. After all I had money in my savings right? Ka Ching! There went another RM 3,000!

I figured I'd stop there. No more spending. But before I knew it - there were the birthdays, the extravagant dinners for special occasions, the one day trips and not to forget the NECESSARY re-decoration of my room. I somehow lost control of my grand savings plan and started losing track of my money.

At the end of 2008 this was what I found:

Planned Savings : RM 12,000

Total Saving : RM 1,750

Quite clearly I'm not as disciplined as I think I am! I realize I really sucked at planning for my expenses! I was so naive to think that all I had to spend on was my weekly expenses when in fact there were so many hidden costs in my life! I never really saw how 5 'special' dinners was equivalent to a month's savings! My bad planning and lack of knowledge on what my daily expenses were led me to make ill informed decisions when it came to money. So I failed to save! But I didn't fail to learn!

This year - things are gonna change! 

I sat down a few days ago and reviewed my expenses from last year and planned for similar expenses this year. I created a budget for my weekly expenses, for my gym, my holidays and my savings.

And to make sure I'm disciplined, I opened a savings account today at my local bank and linked it to my current account. So every month, I'm transfering part of my salary into a savings account which I promise I won't dip into.

I've got a whole excel sheet projecting my monthly income and my monthly expenses to help me keep a close eye on what comes in and goes out.

And just because I don't trust myself after my dismal performance last year, I decided that I'll only get paid my commission at the end of the year - so that I don't go spending it during the year.

Hey - I'm not saying it's a full proof way that'll work - but it's a start!

I hope you're doing better off than me :)