As I was digging through my piles (and piles) of books last night, I came across Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today? Its premise is similar to what I do in my weekly Daily Dollars posts except author Kate Bingaman Burt sketches one thing she’s purchased every day. In the introduction, Kate mentions that she struggled, as I did, with documenting all of her purchases for fear of being judged or changing her habits based on those judgments. We both clearly got over it.
I find it very interesting where people spend their money and I think it says a lot about how they prioritize their life so I found the book to be insightful and very meta. It’s also kind of inspiring if you’re interested in getting a hold on your finances. I know that documenting my spending habits has been a real eye-opener and helped me to identify when and where I was wasting money (not that I still don’t on occasion).
She hasn’t updated her blog in several months, but I think the Kate and I would get along smashingly.
Do you document your spending habits? Either in a general budget or a more detailed ledger?
Obsessive Consumption (documenting your spending habits)
