Keeping track of expenses

I am sitting in my room trying to think of content to write because I had previously told myself that I was going to write (or at least try to write) an article every morning, so far it has been wishy washy but for them most part I have stuck with it. It is very therapeutic to be able to write down ones thoughts early in the morning. It gives a direction and goal to what would, probably, be an otherwise chaotic day.

I received mail this week from the Department Of Treasury. I thought it was a bill. I opened it and saw that I owed the Defense Financial and Accounting Service my entire tax refund! (I filed late this year). I called them up only to find out I owe them $4,000 dollars for not fulfilling my service agreement to the military. We proceeded to setup a payment plan.

One thing that I am noticing since implementing my GTD system, is that I have become more financially accountable because I actually know where my money is going. The guy was asking me questions about my expenses so that we could setup an appropriate amount to pay, and I was answering his questions to the exact dollar. I have a money tracking system built into my current GTD setup; I use Buxfer (http://www.buxfer.com) to make my budgets.

Before setting up this system, I would have ignored my financial obligations and would have run the other direction. This, I am noticing, has not helped me in the past and I am thankful that I have found a system that holds me more accountable.