Feeling out of control, but… not.

I usually update my budget on my YNAB spreadsheet every few days, but it’s been close to 10 days since I entered receipts and I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.  I didn’t know how I was doing on my budget!  I was being mindful of my spending, of course, and I generally know how much money I have available to spend, but not having spent any quality time with my spreadsheet was really starting to make me nervous.  I was sure that I was overbudget somewhere or had forgotten something.

After plugging in all of the numbers, it turned out that I was doing just fine.  I’m going to have to juggle some money around, as a friend is going to be in town for work tonight and I only found out yesterday, so my restaurant budget for the month isn’t going to cover it, but that’s not going to be a problem at all.  I also forgot that this month is kickball signups, and again, not a problem.  There’s room in the budget for all of these things.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’m ready to give up the budgeting.  In fact, I know that I need to spend at least a little time with the spreadsheet every week, just to be sure I’m on track and to ease my concerns.  But I’m continually amazed at how ingraned this budgeting thing becomes.  Last year at this time, I was blowing the budget all over the place and not comprehending how it was happening.  I definitely feel like I have a much better handle on my finances now.