Well the first pay check at the new job has come in and I did the math. Even though I make $15,000 more a year than I did in LA, after taxes and so forth I'm only making $200 a month. In theory I should be making close to $1000 more a month than I was making in LA, but no. I'm making $200 more a month. I'm also paying three times as much in rent. Ah, the price of Manhattan. Anyway, I was prepared for this. It's not like I sat shocked at the sight of my small pay check. I saw it coming, but once those numbers go down on paper things are just a little more real.

Anyway, after figuring out what I'm going to spend each month - rent, insurance, apt bills and expenses, subway fares, savings, etc I decided that the remaining, divided by about 30 days a month is how much money I can spend a day. My total - a whopping 15 dollars a day. Man am I living on easy street.

So here's what I've decided to do. If anyone wishes to join me in this budgeting technique I'd love to hear the results.

Each Monday I'm going to take $100 cash out of the bank. Now technically $15 a day is $105 for a full week, but I'm admitting to myself ahead of time that I'm likely to cheat with the swipe of a credit card every now and then. The five dollars is my buffer. Anyway, I get $100 out of the bank in cash and put it into my wallet. Each day I pay for things in cash - my food for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I choose to eat out, any thing I pick up at a drug store or convenient store, coffee, and anything else I may choose to buy and at the end of the week if it is gone it is gone. However, if there is some left over it rolls into the next week. Last week I managed to roll over a full $40 which was nice. Getting the money every Monday rather than every Friday helps too. It encourages me to save each week for the weekend. Do I really want this $10 burger or can I just grab a $6 sandwich? If I save the $4 I'll have more for the weekend. So far it is working out and it's keeping me on budget. I'd be interested to see if it helps me save more in the long run.

Let me know your budgeting tips.