One thing I found effective, if you don’t already do this already is that since you keep track of monthly expenses…keep them on file every month. I now have 2 full years of monthly expenses and it lets me graph and compare the cost trends of food, utilities, etc and compare them to the previous years to see if any new trends are appearing (such as the gradual increase in our water costs over the last 2 years, leading us to strengthen our conservation efforts).

You seem on the right track with your budgeting.

Congrats on the upcoming new addition. BTW, the most effective way to quit smoking for me was getting pregnant. The day I found out, smoking immediately made me sick to my stomach. With the morning sickness and everything, nicotine was the last thing on my mind. I was able to stop for two years while I was pregnant and nursing.

The pregnancy budget blog will be very exciting!!! I am looking forward to reading it.

::sending you good thoughts::

Jason – my mortgage is in there, sort of. Under Interest Expense, that is where I list the interest portion of my payment. The payment that go towards the principal (which isn’t much at the moment since my mortgage is still quite new) is reflected on my monthly net worth. I keep track of it this way in Quicken so I can track my mortgage balance.

Dave – I’ll write a post about the tax withholdings

Thanks,

JW

I am also a closet smoker. It is very embarrassing. I hate it when people tell me to quit. I have quit….about 14 times.

I would never tell an overweight person NOT to eat that candy bar from the vending machine. I would never tell a person to quit drinking coffee. But yet, people feel the need to tell me to quit all the time.

I have started running more. For a few hours after my jog, my desire to smoke is completely gone!! Per a study last week, the dopamine released by the vigorous exercise mimics the pleasure of nicotine. For me it only works with heavy aerobic exercise. I do pilates every day and it never reduces my urge to quit.

Methods I have tried:
Patch- makes me dizzy and sick to my stomach
Gum- perfect for getting a fix at my desk, expensive, just as addicting as cigarettes, had to start smoking again to get off the gum
Zyban- worked well, reduces the cravings, but as soon as I stopped taking it I started smoking again
Cold Turkey- worked best for me, after going cold turkey the physical need is gone in a few days, the psychological needs stays forever!

The most I have abstained from smoking is two years. As a smoker, I know all the reasons not to smoke

You can do it!! If you decide not to, I will still like you anyway!!

Sonja – Car Maintenance will show up under Automobile:Service. Since I haven’t spent anything so far this year, it doesn’t show as a category. I put any repairs there, as well as oil changes.

jim – this year will be the first year that I use an accountant for our taxes because of all of the new blog-related stuff. My quicken file is actually more detailed than what is shown here (I collapse some categories for the report) and part of that is keeping some things separate that I *think* might be deductible. Then next year I may tackle our own taxes.

tlange – thank you for the reasons for quitting smoking. There are many reasons to quit. One thing I’d like to clarify is that I do not smoke in the house. I actually dislike second hand smoke (go figure).

Actually, lots of changes are coming soon.

1) You might preserve your health to get out of debt, or continue to smoke and the related health care costs could plunge you further into debt. You would be able to pay a lower health insurance premium if you were a non-smoker.

2) It will save you money that you could put towards debt or savings.

3) You will feel better, your sense of taste and smell will come back, etc.

4) If you smoke indoors, your clothes, house, possessions, you will not smell like smoke. Your children will greatly appreciate this.

You have to just quit, don’t get ready for it or wait for some health related crisis to force you to quit.

For the record, I have never smoked in my life, but both of may parents did at one time and both quit cold turkey back in 1981. My father is still living. I lost my mother to cancer last year (colon cancer) which doctors said could have been attributed to smoking even years ago!

what does “I am still trying to get ready to quit” mean? ;o)

congrats.