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April 3, 2020 · 1 Comment

How To Track Expenses

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Budget· Budget Tips· Printable· Saving· Ways We Save

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I’ve talked about how to start budgeting here before, but how do you know whether you’re sticking to that budget?  First and foremost, you need to make it a habit of coming back to your budget.  But second, you need to start tracking your expenses.

How To Track Expenses

What Is Expense Tracking?

Expense tracking is a super simple way of looking at where you spent your money over a certain amount of time.

If you’re spending more in one area than you think you are, it can throw your whole budget off, and you will find yourself trying to make up for that in other ways.  Some people do this by reducing other categories to make sure their budget stays zero-based, while others tend to overspend.

Expense tracking is how to make sure you have reasonable budgeting categories set up for your spending habits, and that you are sticking to the amount you have budgeted without overbudgeting.

How To Start Expense Tracking

There are a few different ways you can track your expenses.  Some people prefer to use programs like Excel, Google Sheets, while others like using Mint or YNAB*.

I have tried other methods out there and have learned that while digital systems are great, I am old fashioned and personally prefer to use good old paper, pen, and highlighter.  We use a Google Calendar for tracking when our bills are due, but I still prefer to use a Bill Pay Checklist that I can fill in throughout the year.  I have a Google Sheet with our estimated paycheck budget breakdown, but I still come back to pen and paper for our actual paycheck budgeting.

You can grab your copy of the budget workbook I use here!

When I set up our paycheck budget, I make sure that there are expense trackers with that paycheck budget breakdown.  Nothing ruins the budgeting mood like having to go search for another paper.

Now when it’s time to use our expense tracker, I do things a little differently.  The first is that I set up two expense trackers: one for cash expenses and the other for debit expenses.  Not all of our budgeting categories are paid for in cash, and I don’t want to double-count expenses later on.

How To Track Expenses

When it’s time to mark expenses, I color code them so that I can see which categories have the most spending.  I love using these Stabilo highlighters* for this job.  In the end, it’s always our grocery budget that has more expenses than any other category we currently have.

How to not use your Expense Tracker

But most importantly, I do not use our expense tracker as a checkbook register.  In other words, I do not use it to see what is left in our bank account; I have a Google Sheets spreadsheet for that.

Expense tracking is not used to see what is left from our zero-based budgeted paycheck; I have a separate piece of paper for that.

Instead, I use it to keep running tallies of our categories for the paycheck.  This way I can easily see how we’re progressing towards, and when we’re getting close to, our budgeted amount.

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When using my Expense Tracker, I do things a little differently.⁣ .⁣ I separate debit expenses from cash expenses, that way I’m not double counting cash expenses.⁣ .⁣ I color code expenses that way I can easily see which category has the most spending.⁣ .⁣ But most importantly, I do not use it as a checkbook register. In other words, I don’t use it to see what is left in our account. I use it to keep running tallies of our categories throughout the month. This way I can easily see how we’re progressing, and when we’re getting close to our budgeted amount.⁣ .⁣ How do you use your expense tracker?⁣ .

A post shared by @ makingcentsmatter on Feb 8, 2020 at 10:47am PST


This method also makes it super simple to see if we need to reevaluate our budget categories and amounts for the next paycheck.

To help you keep track of your expenses, I created a free Expense Tracker for you in my resource library.  To download one for yourself, click here to sign up.

If you’d prefer to get my 80-page budgeting workbook, with an expense tracker, you can click here to find out more.

Do you prefer to track your expenses on paper or digitally?  Let me know in the comments below!

How To Track Expenses

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Comments

  1. Ashley says

    October 28, 2021 at 2:40 pm

    Hey Kate,
    I absolutely agree it’s so important to revisit your budget by tracking your expenses! If I don’t track my expenses, there is no way I stay on budget. My husband and I have a huge whiteboard in our kitchen where we track our expenses. This way it’s visible to everyone in our family, and helps us stay on track and reach our financial goals! Great post!

    Reply

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makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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