The first step if you want to solve your debt problems is to know your income and expenses. You must know how and where your money is spent. Knowing your spending is as important as knowing how much money is coming in.

You may someday be the next person who buys the world’s most expensive cup of coffee and bagel if you don’t know where your cash flow stands!

If you said five dollars for a cup of coffee at Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts is rather expensive, none would argue with you. Yeah no one but Jake Drehar might.

Jake looked forward to each day was a hot cup of coffee in the morning, the one thing he can’t miss in even in summer heat. Jake started it off with his coffee everyday and it would not be a good day otherwise. Jake walked to the counter at his favorite coffee shop on one Monday near the end of the month. He had known about writing a few checks that month and the balance in his checking account may be running low. He paid with his debit card as he expected his paycheck would be directly deposited into his checking account that day and he had some cash in his wallet. He’d pay cash if the debit card were declined.

When the cost of his coffee was put on his debit card, he was pleasantly surprised, thinking his paycheck had cleared. Then he ordered a bagel and paid for that with his debit card. He received overdraft notices from bank two or three days later. He was assessed a fine not only for each overdraft but he was charged a fee for the bank covering his transactions. Jake’s coffee and bagel cost over $120 because of the two fines and two bank fees!

The experience of Jake is an extreme one but it is common. Endless ways are there to lose track of our finances. We put ourselves in peril of being hit with fees and fines that cause bigger and bigger problems when we do lose track.

We all tend to overestimate how much money we have and underestimate how much we are spending. This is the reason we lose track. Our spending sneaks up on us hence we do this. Moreover, it is amazing how little, everyday expenses add up over the year.

On your way to work each day spending on one medium Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks coffee and plain bagel adds up to more than $687 over the course of one year.

Daily purchases have a greater impact on your total expenses than you’d think. Keeping track of what is coming in and what is going out is most important.

Do you want to keep better track of income and expenses? Read *The Road Out of Debt* which offers you simple and ideal solutions for taking control and resolving your financial problems