Thanks for joining me on Money Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for our richer life.

I'm your host Laura Adams. If you've listened to the last two podcasts, you know I

released free excerpts from my new audio book, Money Girls Ten Steps to a

debt-free life. It went on sale last month at audible. Book, Money Girls 10 Steps to a Debt Free Life.

It went on sale last month at audible.com and in the iTunes store.

Well, the third time's a charm for promotion, so this show will be the last borrowed material.

The topic comes from Step five and is an important

part of staying on the straight and narrow when it comes to personal finances.

It's about creating a budget. I mean a spending strategy. Doesn't that sound better?

If you always have plenty of money to pay your bills on time in addition to maintaining a healthy

emergency fund, investing for your retirement, and saving for all your other goals, then you probably don't need a spending strategy.

But if you're struggling at all with your cash inflows and outflows you need a simple spending strategy.

That's because it's difficult to improve what you don't measure.

What you believe is going on can actually be very different from the reality of a situation.

You may think that the amount you spend on groceries or entertainment is reasonable, for example,

but do you really know exactly how much that is on average each month?

Until you dig a little deeper into your spending patterns, you won't have all the information

necessary to make good decisions and beneficial changes.

I'm intentionally not telling you to quote create a budget because if you're like me that

mandate just sounds too stringent.

A budget for many implies doing without and never

being able to enjoy oneself, but a spending strategy on the other hand embraces

...