Controlling Consumption
- Details
- Created: Monday, 30 April 2007 17:30
- Written by Tom Lipp
This month we want to talk about getting our spending under control.
Is that even possible? Let’s start by forgetting money for a while and thinking another favourite topic – food!
Recently I read about a diet plan whereby dieters could eat whatever foods and quantities they wanted while being guaranteed weight loss after six months- no special exercise or surgery required.
There were only two conditions. First they had to eat and drink everything from a normal sized but yellow plate and cup. Secondly they had to write down in a little black book, when and what they ate with no exceptions.
Let’s start by forgetting money for a while and thinking another favourite topic – food!
This sounded very appealing to big Joe. At 350lbs he had tried a number of programs and was really enjoying this one for the first two weeks. Then late one night when he felt those empty spots aggravating his tremendous tummy, he raided the fridge for his typical fix of ice cream and pie. On goes the kitchen light. Shuffle to the fridge. Get the grub. Pie tastes better when it’s zapped for a minute. Oh that special plate is a nuisance. But worse yet, I have to get the pen and notebook to record the details. Maybe I’ll just skip it tonight.
Slowly Joe’s eating habits changed.
When we become highly conscious of our eating habits we can start to control them.
Eating and spending are similar. We need a tool that helps us keep spending under control without feeling like we are being starved by a budget.When we become highly conscious of our eating habits we can start to control them
It’s critical to track our expenditures, simply because money is more nebulous than ever before. During the past forty years the financial and retail industries have made it easier and easier to spend. Pay cash. Swipe a card. Write a cheque. Wave a key tag. Click a mouse. Quote some numbers over the phone and the purchase is made. How do we remember all this?
Enter a tool we call Financial Footprints. It consists of a small tab about the size of a business card in our purse or wallet, an ultra thin pen and a computer program.
I found the best card at Mackenzie Financial, called the “burnrate.ca” weekly spending tracker. I got the pen idea from Wycliffe Bible Translators which used a similar pen as a promotional book marker.
I picked up the spreadsheet idea originally from my dad who diligently recorded our family expenses for decades and more recently from Crown Financial Ministries.
After a personally convenient time period (usually a few days to two weeks) transcribe the data from the spending tracker to the spreadsheet.
In the Financial Footprints system we give the user the ability to track spending under 15 self-selected, prioritized categories with instructions. I believe it’s unique in the industry. Track money any way you like, but just track it!
After watching it move around for a while, you will soon learn that some directions are better than others. It’s usually best to learn this for yourself, since as Winston Churchill put it, “People love to learn but hate to be taught.”
Track money any way you like, just track it!
The spreadsheet uses a program called OPEN OFFICE. We are making it available for beta testing during the next few months. It’s not fancy, but it works. We’d like to get some suggestions for improvement but want to keep it in the OPEN OFFICE software so that it will be available for almost anyone with a computer.
So, if you would like to help us test it out, contact my son Timothy by using the suggestion box or the contact us feature and ask for a free copy(don't forget to put your email in so he can reply to you).It’s not designed for you to spend less but to control it more. You’ll avoid spending binge hangovers and improve your financial fitness.
