I usually have a habit of checking my credit card transactions before the monthly invoice I produce to ensure that there are no surprise charges. But today when I checked my balance I was actually surprised not because of any errors. Rather, the amount I have charged on the card so for this Christmas shopping season. It was close to $1800 already which includes my general bills as well. Budget wise it is not an issue as I didn’t go over budget and shopped for people as planned with a budget in mind. But just seeing it all accumulated makes you sit back and wonder if you should cut back on something for the month to help balance the extra spending.
It was a great example too how actually seeing your total amount spent frequently can cause you to revaluate your finances before its too late. Like here I can imagine many people would just keep spending and it’s not until the end of the billing period when they will get the shocker. Especially if they didn’t actually save enough money to begin with to pay everything off.
This time of year as well is when a lot of my annual subscriptions for things such as software services are up for renewal which adds to the overall expense. Again, seeing the number this large makes me think if I should look for better solutions that cost less as well. I did cut down on my monthly phone bill thanks to the new loyalty plan I am on. So let’s see if I can save more as the year is ending and it’ always great to start fresh for the new years with better solutions if possible.