So I set a goal for myself to try out the envelope system this month. I can safely say that it did not work. I totally ignored it and it did not change any of our habits. Today I modified the system to work off of the Needs/Wants/Savings ideas. This might work better. I definitely noticed that by the usual 50/20/30 standards, we are spending too much on needs and not enough on wants. Either that or our groceries can largely count as wants. I decided that I would roll over any over-expenses of Needs into the Wants category because if I'm spending so much on Needs, they probably fall under Wants anyway.

On another note, I can't wait to start going to conferences. I'm attending three conferences this year, and I will be reimbursed for all of them. Sadly I have about $1000 tied up in conferences at the moment and will probably have to wait several weeks after I turn in my receipts to get any money back. This just makes me thankful that I have my finances in order, otherwise I don't know how I would have the money for all of this. I've decided to count the expenses as "Savings" and put the reimbursements into our savings account.

A couple of friends are coming to stay the night tonight as he has recruitment for a PhD program at my school tomorrow. I hope they come here because many of our friends will be moving away in the next couple years. We will cook for them tonight and then maybe go out for food tomorrow.