My Goals For the Near Future.

I find myself at a strange place in life for a thirty-something year old woman. Many of the years that one usually spends in the frivolity of youth I spent caretaking for both of my ill parents. This has led to some issues for me now that I am out on my own.
I have always had poor impulse control, and when living with my parents as their caretaker I always had extra money to spend on needless wants and wishes. I never learned to control my money, create and follow a budget, and I never even owned a credit card before the age of 30.
The issue this creates is that now that I am out on my own I have no idea how to save or budget my money so I have enough to buy things such as toilet paper!
My life habits need a serious overhaul and for the first time in years I have the time to devote to making my life and myself over.
Step 1-Create a budget and learn to stick to it.
This is by far my biggest downfall. I HATE not being able to buy things that I want. Ever since I was a little girl my mom always told me that I needed to marry a rich man to afford my taste in things.
I have managed through the help of J, Mom, BFF and David Ramsey to create a budget. However, I have yet to stick with this budget for longer than two days. This is the month that I am going to take on my budget challenges and win. I am going to start by creating a menu of inexpensive food options that will get me through the next two weeks (a pay period) based on what I already have in the fridge, freezer, and cupboard.
I don't know about you but I find that when I go to the grocery store I always exit with about 3-7 items that were not on my list when I entered the store. This week I am going to investigate if getting my groceries delivered to my house will be ultimately cheaper than my grocery trips have been over the last few weeks.
I have also created a log of needs and wants that I will carry with me in my purse. When I think of something I think that I NEED or WANT or want TO need, I am going to write it in this log. If I can still find the money, motivation, and reason to buy this item after careful thought and consideration I will then allow myself the idea of purchasing it. This logging process is for items that come up in life that are not accounted for within my created budget. My slush money would be used for these items.
Learning to take care of oneself at the ripe old age of 32 has not been as easy as I would have thought. My budgeting issues is just one of the makeovers that is heading my way this year. Stay tuned to learn more.