What if I'm BAD with money?

It's true.

I'm terrible with money.

The funny part is that I'm frugal and thrifty as you could ever imagine. Sure! No problem! But, that old adage "necessity is the mother of invention" applies. I grew up poor. I HAD to be thrifty, inventive, creative! So it comes naturally to me! I don't need any help on how to live well CHEAPLY. It's what I do!

It's just that I never really learned to SAVE. I'm 32 and my birthday is approaching fast in March. For the most part, I live paycheck to paycheck and have no real savings with the exception of a fleeting glimpse around tax time each year. I've worked a steady job since I was 12--so this shouldn't be the case!

It also wouldn't be fair to say I squander ALL of my money (though the thrifting bits add up). And yes--there are some creature comforts betwixt the bills--the weekly trips to Starbucks, the upgrades this year for my laptop and camera--but for the most part, my family and I live fairly modestly. What gets me is the occasional "impulse" buy, late charges, and who knows what else? (See the next paragraph).

WHERE all of the money goes--well, I don't know. Which is why, I'm sure, the first step to budgeting is to actually record your spending. Well, make no mistake--the idea of recording all my spending completely intimidates and petrifies me.

I fear, however, before I can actually start any plan of ANY sort, I need to tackle this.

My goal is to try and use a calendar to record my daily spending (it seemed like it would be less overwhelming than a journal in my purse, or an app on my ipod). I KNOW I won't stick with something I have to tend to every five seconds. Therefore I'm hoping that, in between having limited amounts of cash and check records to reference, I'll be able to very closely estimate spending and record it each night.

Can I tackle 30 days of record keeping? Perhaps it sounds pathetic but I'm worried that I can't. Pray for your gal and help me gain the momentum and strength I know I will need to overcome my

MONSTER.

Only then can I even HOPE to continue onwards to all of the billions of budgeting ideas out there, from envelope systems to Dave Ramsey Baby Steps.

WISH ME LUCK!