Well, not directly, but I am now tracking every penny that I spend. Feel free to check it out here: Spending From the Red.

My plan is to log my spending down to every last cent. Based on this I will set a real budget and strive to minimize careless spending.

One thing you may notice pretty quickly is that I eat out a lot. I know that this is the expensive way to go, and trust me I would rather save the money. Unfortunately my job requires that I travel basically 100% of the time and while staying at a hotel I don’t exactly have easy access to a grocery store or kitchen.

On the flip side of that, my company provides a $35 per diem for every night that I stay in a hotel (regardless of how much I actually spend on food). So except on holiday weeks I am in the hotel five nights per week, totalling $175 per week. Further, the boss picks up the tab for at least one dinner per week, and the client will throw down for a lunch or two per month.

This spend tracking should start to get pretty interesting on the weekends. I really have no clue how much I typically spend on the weekend, but my gut often tells me it is too much.