One of the exercises for week 6 of the Artist’s Way involved keeping track of your spending for an entire week. Here is the result of this little experiment:

ARTIST’S WAY EXERCISE: BUDGET

On Tuesday of this week I took out $20 in cash, and I used this cash for laundry, coffee, and bus fare, and a couple of other miscellaneous costs.

In addition, this is what my spending for the week looked like

Monday, March 18

Starbucks Coffee: $2.30

Grocery Store: $47.18

Tuesday, March 19

Additional Groceries: $25.67

Wednesday, March 20

no purchases made

Thursday, March 21

Tea with my classmates: $4.98

Friday, March 22

Additional Groceries: $28.16

Sushi: $10.47

Tea with classmates and coach (mini going away get together): $8.28

Saturday, March 23

I did not purchase anything

Sunday, March 24

Starbucks coffee: $2.00

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Oops. I didn’t realize that I had spent quite so much on groceries.

Here is the break down of my spending for the week:

Groceries: $101.01

Eating Out: 28.03

Miscellaneous: $20.00

This brings my spending for the week up to $149.04. I guess this isn’t terrible… but I really shouldn’t be spending so much money on food. Well, the purpose of doing this exercise is to notice where you’re going wrong, so that you can make improvements.

This exercise has prompted me to become much more mindful about keeping and following a budget.

This coming week I am going to budget:

Groceries: $60.00

Eating Out: $10.00

I will update you at the end of next week to let you know how I do.

I highly recommend this exercise, because it provides an excellent opportunity for unmasking your spending habits. Ignorance isn’t always bliss. I find that I experience high amounts of stress when I’m not completely sure where I am when it comes to my money.

To feel abundant, it helps to feel secure in where your money is actually going and coming from. Not only does keeping a budget help raise awareness in regard to your spending, but it also helps to raise awareness and appreciation when it comes to your income (both expected and unexpected – especially the latter).

It’s sort of like following a diet. If you know that you’ve already allotted for a treat in your calorie breakdown for the day you feel a lot less guilty, and might actually enjoy it. Same thing goes for keeping a budget. If you’ve already allotted the funds for a special outing or purchase, you don’t have to experience that buyers remorse as you’re walking out of the store or while you’re getting your nails done at the spa. You planned it. This is perhaps indicative of my personality, but isn’t life so much better when it’s organized?

There’s still some more that I want to do with week, so I’m going to push this week into the next. On second thought. I think that I’m going to spend 2 weeks on every week, just so that I can get as much out of it as possible.

I will leave you with this excerpt from “The Artist’s Way”:

“It will teach you what you value in terms of your spending. Often our spending differs from our real values. We fritter away cash on things we don’t cherish and deny ourselves those we do. For many  of us, counting [keeping track of your spending] is a necessary prelude to learning creative luxury.”