My father often quotes a Scottish proverb, which says to, “Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves.” Good one papa, it’s all making ‘cents’ to me now. *wink wink

Seriously, where does it all go? One day you’ll have a stack of paper and the next, you’re using coupons. I didn’t want to stress myself out by getting too serious about my finances, but I thought it would be fun to keep a journal of my expenses. It’s actually driving me to find other ways to spend rather than save.

Here’s a mock breakdown based on a typical Lowe Saturday:

Carry a notepad or use the memo task in your phone

The exercise has made me want to do things like register my Starbucks card for the perks, or plan my route to work *car-pooling and public transit are where it’s at! Taking advantage of loyalty programs, planning your day to save time and simply cutting out things you really don’t need, can cut down on so many expenditures. The best part of keeping a journal is that YOU will decide what you don’t need. You won’t have other people telling you what they think you shouldn’t spend money on.

Try it!

Oh, and I suggest a piggy bank to put all your leftover coins from the day into, including loonies and twoonies.

My UMBRA Vol'coin'o

Coco's hypo-allergenic version of a pet poodle