Tracking Spending Habits

[nalidixic]

Hi All,

I'm new to the site. I found it through Google and it seems to have a very active community.

What I would like to know is how you go about tracking the money that you are spending day to day.

Personally I've tried using Quicken in the past but find it too clunky. Recently I've been just tracking our spending in a spread sheet but the problem with that is that we often forget to enter things after we get home from shopping or whatever.

What sorts of tools do you use each day? What do you like and dislike about them?

Thanks!

[disneysteve]

I no longer track day to day spending but when I did, I found the most effective means for me was good old paper and pencil. A little notebook that you can carry with you at all times is best. That way you can log the spending right away and not have to remember to do it later.

[nalidixic]

Steve,

I agree that recording your spending as you go is the best way to collect the data.

What I'm thinking of working on is a tool which would allow me to simply text message my spending in as I'm on the go. For instance if I were to send a text like "coffee 2.49" the system would make an entry in my coffee category for $2.49. Over time my hope would be to track all of my spending to identify trends and areas where I'm spending to much.

To my knowledge there is no light weight tools like this out there already. There are great tools such as Mint however they are full of addition features that get in the way of just simply tracking what I'm spending.

What do you think of something like that?

[cypher1]

While I still carry cash on me, almost all my transactions are done via credit card. So I just monitor my CC activity online daily. Paper and pen is the simplest method for tracking though.

[disneysteve]

If you have a smartphone, there may be an app for that.

[thekid]

While I still carry cash on me, almost all my transactions are done via credit card. So I just monitor my CC activity online daily. Paper and pen is the simplest method for tracking though.

This is what I do.

Most (almost all) spending is via CC or debit card (when CC is not accepted).

I have an spreadsheet with all spending items that I print once a month. I write down spending every couple days while checking my online banking. Add it up at month's end for each category and then finally add up each month at year's end and divide to get monthly average per category.

I actually don't really use it to "monthly budget" (as I did when I started out). I use it to track tendencies, so that I can then make very precise spending/savings decisions when I want to.

[disneysteve]

While I still carry cash on me, almost all my transactions are done via credit card. So I just monitor my CC activity online daily.

This won't help someone trying to get a handle on their spending, though, because the CC statement just says where you spent the money. It doesn't tell you on what it was spent. So it depends why you are tracking. Knowing that you spent $47.38 at Wal-Mart won't tell you if you bought groceries, underwear, video games or candy bars.

[thekid]

This won't help someone trying to get a handle on their spending, though, because the CC statement just says where you spent the money. It doesn't tell you on what it was spent. So it depends why you are tracking. Knowing that you spent $47.38 at Wal-Mart won't tell you if you bought groceries, underwear, video games or candy bars.

Agreed. You gotta write it down not more than a few days after purchase. ie. when I see "walmart 86$" I remember what I bought 2 days ago, not much more than that.

[nalidixic]

Agreed. You gotta write it down not more than a few days after purchase. ie. when I see "walmart 86$" I remember what I bought 2 days ago, not much more than that.

Right so again if there was an easy way to get the information into a site it would really help I think.

[thekid]

Right so again if there was an easy way to get the information into a site it would really help I think.

I use my CC/debit card for that. I check into online banking every day or so and have it all itemized there (I don't wait for the paper invoice at end of the month, that would not work).

I've been doing it for about 5 years. It becomes a habit. I hardly ever forget anything. After a while, you get very detailled historic spending habits. You know exactly what you need to change if you want to up savings or conversely know where extra spending would be warranted if you're doing fine. It's pretty cool (at least for somebody lame like me that would find it cool )

If you text it to yourself like you suggested, it seems like something that works too.

[Nightfly]

You could simply stick $50/$100/$300 (whatever amount works for you) as "walking around money" for the week (say, Sunday through Saturday). Then reload with the same amount the following Sunday. Just figure that $50/$100/$300 (again, whatever works for you) is for your cash purchases: daily coffee, lunches, gas, dry cleaning, happy hour, quick grocery hit, etc. Then use the debit card for larger purchases as they occur. Also use your checking account for your bills - like utilities, rent, car payment, or mortgage. At the end of each month, download your checking account statement into a spreadsheet format (they all allow this for the most part), and then analyzye what your purchases were for the month. Wash, rinse, repeat. There are several online tools that allow for uploading these spreadsheets for some detailed analysis (including one that I created, at the risk of naked self-promotion)

[maynard]

Like disneysteve, i used to track it but dont anymore. I know how to spend now and i have savings that goes where it should . I did use "moneytracker" for android. Its just an easy way to note what i spent money on while i was out and about. Then every week i would manually transfer that info to an excel spreadsheet . I used that method for around 2 years. Worked great

[Snodog]

We've tracked expenses for about 4 years now. I just get a receipt for everything and then when I get home I take all the receipts out of my pocket and enter into a spreadsheet.

[snshijuptr]

We use our credit card for everything and I use broad budget categories (Needs vs Wants vs Reimburseable) and just label our expenses based on the place or my memory of the purchase (Groceries, Gasoline, Eat Out, Laundry, etc). I update it about once a week from our online accounts. Honestly if you can't recall what a purchase was for a week ago, you shouldn't have made that purchase. It didn't improve your life enough to be memorable. On an average work day, except for those with their own business, you shouldn't be making all that many purchases.

If you find that tracking your spending is onerous, then you need to reevaluate your spending, not your tracking system!

[kork13]

We've tracked expenses for about 4 years now. I just get a receipt for everything and then when I get home I take all the receipts out of my pocket and enter into a spreadsheet.

Same here. I've been tracking expenses since '09, and I just bring home all of my receipts and input them into excel. It's basically the pen/paper method except having the digital spreadsheet makes the long-term recordkeeping and calculations easier to manage. I like the method, and at least so long as I continue tracking my expenses, I think I'll keep doing it this way.

I tried Quicken a few years ago, but found that it didn't work as well for me. My manual method helps keep me more aware of my spending, and it's also more accurate (at least back then, Quicken tended to classify purchases very poorly).