Steps 6 and 7

So, I kept track of every penny that came in and every penny that went out for the entire month of February. And then I organized what I spent into categories (Groceries, Eating out at work, Eating out with Shawn, Bills, Investing, clothes, gifts, Random fun stuff, entertainment, etc.)

And you know how you have certain months out of the year in which we you just KNOW that you're going to spend more than you make? For most people this is in December/January because of Christmas. For me, it tends to be February. And it's been like this over the past couple of years--probably because February is about the time that I start getting to the point where I'm like "God! why isn't there any food at work for breakfast?!" and so I go out and buy breakfast for all my coworkers (~$40). Plus, and this always happens, I tend to buy too much stuff for birthdays...And there were 2 birthday parties (~$90).

So, the grand total was that I spent $155.53 more than I earned for the month. And I spent about $300 more than I normally would have--at least one full pay check goes towards just investments (though with the stock market where it is, I'd rather put that into ING or put it towards principle on the house). And most of my second pay check goes toward food and water/trash/car payments. That, of course, isn't to say that I couldn't cut down on the amount of money spent on food--I spent about $165 on groceries and then about $190 eating out. And we obviously don't have to eat out as much as we do--heck, we could choose to never eat out, but where's the fun in that?

Now then, I only have to do this for the rest of my life...woowee.