Here are some thoughts from the book The Net Worth Workout: A Powerful Program for a Lifetime of Financial Fitness
Just as an unhealthy diet can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, strokes, and cancer, a disorganized spending program can lead to serious financial problems, like having to work more years than you would like, having limited choices in where you send your children to college, and even being unable to afford good health care. And just as it is with your physical health, these long-term implications are driven by your daily habits.
So true. It's what you do on a day-in, day-out basis that really determines whether your net worth grows or not. All of those (seemingly) little financial decisions/purchases add up and ultimately become your financial life. If you are disciplined and have control over the daily money issues in your life, then it's likely that your net worth is growing. If you don't, then you're probably treading water at best.
Control of your daily spending starts with having a budgeting system, keeping it up-to-date, following it, and using it to make on-purpose financial decisions (versus simply making them haphazardly.) If you don't have such a system, I suggest you check out It's Budgeting Time of the Year. This post is full of suggestions on budgeting as well as some budgeting services that can help you get control of your finances.
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