I'm on board with living frugally, investing, living below my means, and all that. But I can't do expense tracking like these guys are describing. I simply can't keep track of all the details to my satisfaction - whenever I try I get the same feeling that I used to get from trying to keep my iTunes library straight while Apple systematically destroyed my organization with each update. It's impossible, so I gave up.
I go with the "pay yourself first" method. The first thousand dollars I get goes directly to long term savings. The next thousand pays the bills (rent, hydro, internet, food, gas, insurance). The next thousand is for whatever I feel like buying. In practice, I keep my impulse buying to a minimum, and that last thousand ends up paying for vacations, motorcycles, and replacements for expensive items that I ruin due to carelessness. (Hearing aids, laptops, cell phones, work pants, etc).
It's not a perfect system by any means, and there's lots of inefficiency and room for improvement. But in terms of practical results, I'm far ahead of most of my peers, and I'm not wasting any brain cycles on it.
I go with the "pay yourself first" method. The first thousand dollars I get goes directly to long term savings. The next thousand pays the bills (rent, hydro, internet, food, gas, insurance). The next thousand is for whatever I feel like buying. In practice, I keep my impulse buying to a minimum, and that last thousand ends up paying for vacations, motorcycles, and replacements for expensive items that I ruin due to carelessness. (Hearing aids, laptops, cell phones, work pants, etc).
It's not a perfect system by any means, and there's lots of inefficiency and room for improvement. But in terms of practical results, I'm far ahead of most of my peers, and I'm not wasting any brain cycles on it.