I have a favorite tank top I received from a race, and on the front all it says is, “Every Damn Day.”

I can appreciate that this shirt may offend some.

But it represents an important concept to me. Sometimes we think there is a perfect time or day to do something.

For me, I used to think this with budgeting. I would avoid discussing it or wait for that “perfect” moment.

When that moment never came I had to ask the question, when should I budget??? Answer: Every Damn Day.

That is why I started my daily tracking back in January. I realized that daily accountability is best for us.

I realized how each day led to the next. If I had “spending momentum” one day, I needed to make the next day lighter or a zero dollar day.

I started to see spending patterns, good and bad.

So while tracking daily expenditures sounds monotonous, it has immensely helped our budget, our budget discussions, and our stress.

I just finished my 9th month of daily tracking.

I spread out all the sheets on the floor today and felt a sense of calm and pride.

These sheets represent everything we have spent in 2020.

They show a spike in March and April as COVID began to shut our world down, and a decline in June as we settled into our “at home” model.

But the sheets also show me the future. They show when we like to travel, do activities, etc. Now I can plan better for next year.

Just because 2020 wrecked a lot of our plans does not mean we shouldn’t plan.

2020 is not an excuse to throw our budget down the drain.

It might actually be a reason to get better.

So my goal going forward with the daily tracking is getting better each month.

Learn from each day and move forward.

-Brittany