We may handle finances in different ways but many of us see the need for keeping watch over our financial situations.

What methods do you use to track your expenses? Do you only monitor bills or all your spending? 

 

 

I keep a journel. I write what I spend in red and any income is in blue.I write everything I spend, even a pack of gum.I carry a small notebook in my purse to write what I spend when I am out then write it in my journel when I get home. It is so easy to forget the small items.They count up a lot. If I save on coupons It also goes in the journel i blue.then i send the amount to my savings account.I have learned so much from being a lurker here for a long time. I have to thank all of you.I recently started a budget using the journel. I hope I can stay on the budget. I think the times call for a budget with prices raising so much.

We've got a spreadsheet for our budget.  It lists all the bills, due dates, amounts, and other things we must budget for.  Most of the bills themselves set their budgeted amount themselves, as mortgage and other bills are generally a set amount.  The rest we divide as we see fit, setting aside funds for groceries, spending cash, extra debt repayment, etc.  We don't leave alot unalloted, partly because the money is tight, and partly because unalloted funds tend to get frittered away, and we don't like frittering away money.  Splurges definately have their place, but we tend to try and plan them so we don't blow the budget or incur more debt.

 I use a budgeting software that keeps everything in categories and alerts me if I have spent too much in any particular one.  For my new clients, I give them a written system I created and require they use it for at least 6 months, manually tracking each expense by category, before going to a computer based system.

 The goal is to track each expense and then be able to look back over the weeks and months to spot trends and places that realistically can be cut back.

About 2 or 3 times a year I  use a budget tracking book from an office supply store (though I get them at thrift stores) and track EVERY penny.  It's a check up to see where I've been back sliding.  No longer track every thing all  the time.

 I too use budgeting software that allows me to track my budget.  I'm on salary so my income doesn't change during the year and usually my expenses remain the same.  I treat everything like a bill and use electronic withdraws when I can.  Before I even get my check, a deposit has went to my passbook and extra to a retirement fund.  Bills come out electronically and I withdraw $275 for the month's groceries, animal feed, household & hygiene items.  Every Monday (unless its a holiday) I withdraw my 'allowance '.  I don't track what I spend my allowance on.  This still leaves some cash for in my account for school and activities for Amira.  At the end of each quarter I take any surplus left in checking, no matter how small, and move it to my brokerage account. Other unbudgeted income also goes into the brokerage account (not much of that coming in these days)/

Oh, Monday is my allowence day because if I spend it all during the week, I can always stay home on the weekend.

 We use a combination of spreadsheets for budget, debt repayment, and sinking funds. We check daily online at our bank's website. 

We use cash for all but bill payments.  We keep track of the cash via an envelope for each category and keeping the receipts to balance the envelopes, if needed.  

 

 

 

I use excel to track our budget/expenses. When I was working, I tracked everything through credit card statements and receipts. Cash expenditures weren't tracked at all (except for tracking ATM withdrawals).

Now that I work from home, I want to track everything to the penny since we are now on 1 income. My question is, how do you get your spouse to be on board without constantly nagging him about what he spent during the day?

 I like to put everything on my Discover card so I can see exactly where it's going, and get the 2% cash back. We pay it off at the end of every month. I hate paying in cash because it doesn't give me any kind of paper trail. Between me and my husband we probably spend only about $20 in cash every month.

 On the first of every month I update an Excel spreadsheet that tracks the balances of our various accounts. We used to also track our debts, back when we had them...  Watching the balances move around every month really motivated us to pay off the house early.

MamaJ:

I hate paying in cash because it doesn't give me any kind of paper trail.

Whenver we spend cash, the business generates a paper receipt.  Itemized paper trail, right there.