Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep?

That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily,

is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations.

And these affirmations aren't just comforting. They can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts,

setting you up for true good sleep. So press play on good sleep tonight because a good tomorrow

starts with a good night sleep. Just search for good sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one

from Optimal Living Daily.

This is Optimal Finance Daily. How to Complete Your Very First Spending Audit, Part 1 by Amanda

Brownlow of hellobrownlow.com. In a world of excess, it pays off to take a hard look at your spending habits. Society tells

us buy more and save, but really, you'll save 100% if you don't buy that product at all.

So what do you spend money on every month in this buy more world? Are you spending more than you

make? Can you think of any areas of excess spending you can

trim back? All of these questions can be answered with a spending audit. What the heck is a spending

audit? A spending audit is when you and your partner sit down to review or audit all of your

transactions over the past month. Bank and credit card statements

get pulled out and marked up. All this info you'll gather gets put into a spreadsheet or written

out. You'll get to see just exactly where your money is going every month. And why should I do

an audit? My money habits are just fine. If you live without a budget, you'll go without

knowing exactly where your money went. Yes, you can kind of sort of keep tabs on your money

mentally. $15 on lunch yesterday, $45 on gas Monday, mortgage was about $850. Paycheck was somewhere around

$1,500 this week. You get the idea. Treating your money without

respect is an easy way to spend more than you earn and end up in debt with no savings. Yikes.

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