DH and I definitely have 2 problem areas when it comes to spending. Eating out and gambling.

The eating out is mostly due to laziness. Neither one of us is a huge fan of cooking, DH cooks waaaaay more then I do. Eating out is easy, yummy, and a nice treat for us to do together...however in the last few years it has gone from a treat to a standard and we often eat out 3-4 times a week. And these are not McDonalds tabs, we usually go to sit down resterants and have beer with dinner, so the bill is normally around $25 - $35. We almost always have leftovers, which we ALWAYS eat at home or for lunch at work, so we aren't wasting that, but $100+ a week on eating out is crazyness...and bad for my waistline as well.

The gambling is our favorite hobby together. We like to go to the casino locally (about 45 min away), go on mini trip to other casinos in ND, MN and SD, and also go to Vegas once a year. We also play blackjack and bingo at the bar occasionally. We don't have kids or any debt other then the mortgage, so we can go whenever we want and don't have to worry about time/money that should be spent on other things. This is our leisure activity of choice, so I don't feel bad about spending money (and sometimes winning!) on gambling, but I also expect us to have and keep some limitations on it.

So I made some simple Excel sheets to help us get back on track with these 2 areas. I titled one Eating Out Spending/January 2014 (this one we will need to track monthly) and the other Gambling Spending 2014 (this one I should be able to track yearly). I set up columns for the date, the item (where we ate or where/what we gambled on), the amount, and a running total column. I already discussed this with DH and he is on board to track these items as well, so I will put the sheets on the fridge when I get home and I think this will really help us with our problem areas as we can see the exact amounts we are really spending.