Coupons 101: Keeping Track of Savings

Have you had a great shopping trip yet? A trip where you used lots of coupons and saved lots of money? Have you left the store feeling successful and amazing?

Do you want to know the quickest way to lose that feeling? Going over your budget. Sales and coupons now matter how great they are, if you are spending more than your budget, well it defeats the whole purpose.

So what do you do? First you need a budget. This is something that definitely deserves a nice sit down between you and your significant other. I used to have a food budget and then would just buy clothes and other stuff when I needed it. But this left me feeling a little guilty if I would buy something for me as I wasn't sure if I had money for it.

So Eric and I sat down and looked at our budget and now I get paid a weekly amount. With my money, I am responsible for buying food, clothes and household things that may be needed; but whatever extra I have is MY money to do whatsoever I want with guilt free. (See I have incentive to save money with coupons) I can save up the extra for something I really want or just spend the excess on all the chocolate I could dream of! The point is you need to figure out a budget and then stick to it, even if it means not buying as much of a great sales item because you would go over your budget.

I keep track of my money with an excel spreadsheet. I get money on a weekly basis, but you can do it monthly, bi-weekly.. whatever works best for your situation.

The following video will demonstrate how to use my budget sheet.

You will want to watch it in full screen to see it clearly

And then if you love it as much as I do, you can download your own copy here.

DOWNLOAD FILE

Don't forget to check out the rest of the coupon lessons here.