{"id":1420,"date":"2014-01-15T00:15:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T08:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2021-08-13T07:38:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T15:38:37","slug":"5-tips-to-successfully-track-your-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/5-tips-to-successfully-track-your-spending\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to Successfully Track Your Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spending\"<\/a>You have no idea where your money is going each month. You\u2019ve tried to track your spending before but have never been able to follow through.<\/p>\n

I know the feeling. I\u2019ve been there several times, too.<\/p>\n

The other day I told one of my friends that I was successfully tracking my spending this month. This is something that I\u2019ve had trouble doing in the past and that, apparently she has, too. She asked if I thought there was a way to use baby steps to successfully do this.<\/p>\n

While the steps to tracking your spending aren\u2019t complicated I have found that there are some tips that are detrimental to success.<\/p>\n

While the month isn\u2019t quite over I\u2019m confident that I will have fully tracked my spending down to the dollar. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

# 1 – Forget Perfection<\/h3>\n

The number one reason that I\u2019ve never been able to follow through on tracking my monthly spending is because I was worried about every detail being perfect. And, it doesn\u2019t need to be!<\/p>\n

Trying to have a hundred sub categories to track instead of just a few broad categories makes tracking your spending tricky. Forget perfection<\/i>. Instead of tracking a category like \u201cshampoo\u201d try broad categories such as household items or even groceries.<\/p>\n

Also, instead of listing items and dollar amounts individually just group them together into categories. Which brings us to the next point.<\/p>\n

# 2 \u2013 Use Broad Categories<\/h3>\n

Using broad categories goes hand in hand with ditching the perfection. It\u2019s much easier and less stressful to track a few broader categories than to track several smaller categories.<\/p>\n

For example, instead of tracking toiletries, food, and household cleaners into separate categories I lump them all into a grocery category. I know that the bulk of my money is spent on food and putting the few dollars I spend on non-food household items goes fine in this category.<\/p>\n

I track utilities and bills as individual categories since they are only one monthly payment. However, for the stuff that I\u2019ll have to record several times throughout the month I use broad categories.<\/p>\n

# 3 \u2013 Record Your Purchases ASAP<\/h3>\n

Another issue I\u2019ve had in the past is letting receipts pile up before recording them. If you wait too long to record your purchases, tracking your spending becomes tedious instead of fun.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s best to take a couple minutes every day to sit down and plug your numbers in.<\/p>\n

# 4 \u2013 Choose the Right Tools<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve always been a pen and paper kinda girl but I\u2019ve found that this methodology doesn\u2019t work well for tracking my spending. Instead I opted to use an existing template I found on Microsoft Excel.<\/p>\n

I shuffled through many spreadsheets before finding one that I liked. The one that I\u2019m using now has a column for my projected income and expenses, actual income and expenses, and the end of the month differences. For me the simpler the spreadsheet the better.<\/p>\n

In addition to using a spreadsheet you could also use an online program, such as Personal Capital<\/a>, that pulls information from your bank and credit card accounts and tracks your spending for you.<\/p>\n

# 5 \u2013 Be Realistic<\/h3>\n

I didn\u2019t start to track my spending because I was blowing my budget each month. I knew approximately what I was spending in each category and I also have relatively low expenses compared to many others.<\/p>\n

The point of me tracking my spending is to see to make myself more aware of what I\u2019m purchasing before swiping my debit card. I\u2019ve vowed to make this year a good year savings-wise and I\u2019m going to follow through.<\/p>\n

With that said it\u2019s important to note that if you aren\u2019t really sure where your money is going each month, don\u2019t be too hard on yourself.<\/p>\n

The first month that you track your spending you may be surprised that your actual spending is much more than your projected spending. That\u2019s okay. After you track your spending for a month you\u2019ll have a realistic idea of where your money goes and will be able to slowly cut your expenses back as necessary.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

Tracking your spending definitely isn\u2019t the most exciting notion in the world, but it will give you a clear picture of exactly where your money is going.<\/p>\n

Just remember you don\u2019t have to be super detailed to successfully track your spending. Keep it simple and throw perfection out the window and your chances of staying on track will be much greater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You have no idea where your money is going each month. You\u2019ve tried to track your spending before but have never been able to follow through. I know the feeling. I\u2019ve been there several times, too. The other day I told one of my friends that I was successfully tracking my spending this month. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[248,246,247],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}