Plan to Succeed

Yesterday I wrote about our progress of reducing our restaurant spending.  At the end of March, our goal was to cut our spending by 50%, to $190 a month.  We didn’t reach our goal.  We were able to reduce our spending by $146.13, a victory to be sure but not quite what we were hoping for.  What went wrong?

Like so many people, we use our debit/credit cards for the majority of our transactions throughout the month.  I enjoy the convenience of electronic transactions, not to mention the automatic tracking of purchases through our online bank accounts.  There is never a question of where the money went, like with cash.  On the other hand, with cash, when the money is gone, it is gone.  It would be difficult to pay for lunch with dollar bills you don’t have.

Unlike cash, when using a debit or credit card, there is no physical indication of when you have stepped over your budget.  It is possible to track all of our expenses online or tally the receipts of our purchases each day but we don’t.  Some people enjoy tracking each penny that comes into or flows out of their fingers.  I am not one of those people.  I prefer finding simple, lasting solutions to complex problems.  The less time and effort to solve the problem, the better.

We have made progress on cutting our expenses without tracking them throughout the month, yet we have consistently failed to reach our target.  Even though we were able to identify the problem areas in our spending habits and made efforts to improve, our efforts weren’t enough.  Why?

We didn’t have a plan to succeed.

This month, our goal remains the same;  to cut our restaurant expenses to $190 a month.  In order to accomplish this goal, we are trying something different.  We are stepping back in time and returning to cash for our restaurant budget.  When the money is gone, its gone.

There is one small hiccup in the process this month; our trip to Iceland.  It is easy to blow a budget while traveling, especially when one of my favorite things to do while traveling is eating.  I expect our efforts to cut our spending to be thwarted by our trip, however, this isn’t a reason to ignore our goal.

Having a plan sets us up for success and without one, while we may be able to make progress, it is more difficult to measure that progress and reaching our goal is more challenging.  In one month, I will know whether or not this plan has been successful and if not, I will analyze what went wrong and refine my plan.

The secret to success is to learn from your mistakes and use them to improve your plan.  Failure is only possible if we quit.