For Day 20 of 31 Days to a Better Bank Balance, it’s time to listen to a little bit of short-but-infinitely-wise advice from a short-but-infinitely-wise little guy: Yoda.

Yoda says, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

You see, quite a few folks have expressed an interest in spending less on food, which happens to be one of the most controllable spending categories. Unless you’re on a special diet for medical reasons, you can pretty much control all of your food choices. Really, you can.

You “just” have to do it. The key to doing it is to stop trying and start doing.

In other words, commit.

So for today, do three things:

1. Write down how much you spent on food (groceries and eating out combined) over the last 30 days. If you don’t know, take 15 minutes to go look your bank & credit card statements for money you spent at the grocery store and eating out, add that up, and call it good enough.

2. Write down a new number that is reasonably smaller than the amount you spent last month. (If you spent $600 last month, don’t write down $100 for this month. Write down $540 instead. It needs to be a number you are certain you can live with.)

3. Now commit. Say these words out loud, inserting the appropriate number where the X is: “I am going to spend $X or less on groceries and eating out over the next 30 days.”

More on this tomorrow…