Hello - Michelle here from www.secretbudget.net. Our vision at secretbudget.net is to "Provide the freedom for us and others to live an enriched life." We do this through providing FREE access to budgeting tools and money saving tips and ideas.

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Planning and Preparation - Money Saving
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I've been doing a lot of market research and polling over the last few weeks and am really very surprised when I hear people say things like, "I don't need a budget", "I have an idea of my budget, it's in my head" and "I did a budget three years ago".

Firstly, I believe everyone does need a budget of some kind, it's vital that you can determine there is more money coming than going out. A budget is about knowledge, not about restriction. It's important to know where your money is going and if you are on track with your financial goals. I also recommend that you review your budget regularly - things change all the time, understand and accept that. I'm even more surprised that with what is going on in the world, some people are not watching their pennies. This "global crisis' may or may not have affected you personally just yet, but what if it does done the track. For me, I know that I would rather be prepared than be in the middle of it saying, "gee, I wish I'd had better control of money a few months ago."

It's during uncertain times like these I recommend just focusing on your own situation which you can change, rather than what may be happening on a large scale. Now is the time to plan and prepare and I suggest starting with a daily spending tracker.

The daily spending tracker was designed to get a realistic picture of what's happening with your money, every day. It's really important to track every day because it so easy to forget if you leave it for 3 or 4 days. Please do it everyday for 4 weeks to get a clear picture of your spending habits. It's a great way to see where money "slips through the cracks". Did you know that a coffee and a paper everyday is over $2,000 a year?! You can quickly find $1,000 just by cutting this in half!

I have the trackers available at the site and they're broken down into four weeks. You can get week 1 here.

So, this is step 1... Preparation. Not only will you be able to determine where you are overspending, but it will also help you to prepare your budget.

Next time I'm going to talk to you about Planning. In the meantime, if you would like some FREE money savings ideas, register at www.secretbudget.net and you can access our "secret stash".

Don't forget, a Personal Budget Organiser will keep you on track with your budget every time you open your wallet. You can see more info here