J.C.’s Money Blog

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle from modern physics says the following: anytime you measure something, you impact it in some minute way. So anytime you measure something, your measurements are inaccurate by some quantity of uncertainty, because the simple act of measuring it, changes it. There is some math behind it, and it is completely irrelavent until you are talking about objects of minute size, such as subatomic particles.

That doesn’t seem to really apply to personal finance, but its analogy does. Simply by measuring things we do, we have an impact on the things we do. If you are serious about losing weight, just write down and tabulate all the calories you eat. This exercise will influence not only how much you eat, but also what kinds of foods, because suddenly those high caloric treats seem less appetizing.

My goals for 2008 were to not lose any money (no negative net worth growth, despite quitting my job) and to track all of my spending.

The reason why I want to track my spending, something I have never done before or wanted to do, is because I know it will help me achieve my first goal. Just doing the accounting and being honest with myself about how I spend money will make me make better money decisions.