It’s not that I wasn’t paying attention to my finances before moving to the USA.

I was checking my bank account almost every day, to see the balance, and check if all transactions were legit.

But I have to admit that I was very lax on the budgeting side.

Back in the day

When I first started working, I was following my expenses pretty closely, using Quicken (yes, it was already a thing back in the 90’s).

I would input every expense in it and make nice charts. I was even tracking my cash money at some point! It was very time consuming but I knew exactly where my money was going.

But as my income grew I stopped doing it, arguing (with myself mainly) that I did not have time for it.

Now after a few years of not having to deal with a budget, I find myself in the situation where I have to go back to it.

The situation for the past 2 years

If you have read other parts of my blog, like my About page, you know that I left France early 2016 to get a perspective on where I wanted my life to go. Because I left the company I was working for on a leave of absence, I did not have any income anymore.

At the beginning I was relying on parts of the savings I had built over the years. Then I met my partner and we started sharing the expenses. We are trying not to rely too much on my savings, in case we need the money for an emergency, so keeping a close eye on expenses is a prerequisite.

Early on I started taking care of everything bank related; paying the bills, checking the statements, etc.

That’s when I started making a budget too. Nothing fancy, just a simple Excel spreadsheet, with all our income sources and expenses, and previsions for the coming months.

I believe it helps keeping us on the right track.

And that is also a powerful reminder of why we need a second income, hence my decision to start a Freelance business.

What about you, do you have a budget and what made you start budgeting?