For me, one of the first few steps towards my goal is to be conscious about my spending habits. Honestly, it took me almost 2 years of my employee life before I realized this. Of course when you start getting thousands of pesos on your bank account you'd always want to reward yourself. You just had to buy the latest gadget, branded shoes and bags or wear the latest clothing trend. To date, I still can’t say I’ve mastered controlling my finances. I’ve also had my share of lapses here and there.
And I think another reason is that I had a sucky, faulty blackberry expense tracker app. Yes. Blame it on the mobile phone. =p
I add an Income of 200 (or 300 every pay day) which is my allowance for basic necessities. When I get home, I recap everything I have spent and plug it into my DEM. Two hundred a day is actually pretty low. But I have to limit myself because I'm saving up for something. On the up side, I think desperately wanting to have that something made me more determined to make this a daily habit.
In my case, I exceeded my limit on July 2nd and 3rd. Bad.
For example, mine is food. Now I must start being wary on where to go for lunch or maybe cut back on dessert in order to save a couple of bucks. Bringing baon even once a week may also be a good idea.
NOTE: Pardon the oversight. Currency is in USD. But I already changed my app settings to Philippine Peso. Don't forget yours! =p