Track Your Spending Today for a Better Tomorrow

Step 1. Create a Budget

Click here to learn more about creating a budget.

Step 2. Track Your Spending

Budgeting and tracking your spending work best when combined. 

"You can't get where you want to go if you don't know where you are."

It's impossible to stick with a budget if you don't track your spending. For this, I use an app called Mint and it tracks all my spending.  Click here to learn more. 

I know some of you might be concerned about sharing your financial information in an app for security reasons.  I understand your concerns. Here's what I discovered:

I  found that I was having fraudulent charges without the app and I was catching them pretty slowly.  When you have several accounts it's unlikely you're going to be logging on every day or sometimes even weekly. With Mint, all of my accounts are in one place.  I'm actually more likely to find fraudulent charges quicker because I'm logging in several times a week to monitor everything from checking accounts to credit cards and investments.  

Mint has already caught I payment I was going to be late on simply because I just wasn't aware of it.  The app sent me an email that my chase card had a payment soon.  I was able to pay it right then and there are and mark it as paid in the app.  It saved me money and potentially my credit score. Nothing goes untracked. 

Credit Cards for Tracking

I used to really like using credit cards for tracking my purchases but in reality, I was unconsciously swiping and regretting it later.  Ever notice yourself walking out of a store and you have no idea what you just spent?  That's how the swipe of a credit card will get you every time.  "Oops, I went over budget again!"

Then I discovered the cash envelope system. 💌 

It's 10 times easier to track my spending when I'm paying cash for everything.  It's also cheap and easy to implement. After you decide on a budget, then withdraw the money and divide it into envelopes labeled for each budget (ex. groceries, eating out, clothes, etc). Don't have envelopes?  No worries! I used sticky notes to divide the money in my wallet.  Every time I spend money I write the amounts I spent on the back of the sticky note. Once I use all my grocery money that's it.  Time to start eating out of the pantry, leftovers I've frozen, or take money from another envelope, like eating out, but then I'll have to live with having less in that category.  

*If you're one of those people who need an organizer for everything, check out this super cute envelope system on Etsy.  Or here's a basic one on Amazon Prime.

Here are a few additional ideas for tracking your spending:

• Keep all your receipts and at the end of each day record them (Decide on a frequency that works for you. Maybe every Sunday).
• Record receipts in a journal or carry it with you and record your spending as you go.
• Use a spreadsheet (google spreadsheet is great).
• Use Everydollar for creating a budget AND tracking your spending.

Step. 3. Don't Give Up!  

The ones that fail after the first month and give up are, you guessed it, still in debt! 
Don't be like them.

Think of budgeting as something less emotional like gardening.  For anyone that's tried their hand at gardening, you know just how hard it can be to keep plants alive. When that first plant finally does die because you didn't give it the right combination of sun and water, do you beat yourself up for being a failure? Ok, so aloe vera died and yes it's sad but it probably doesn't stop you from trying again. Here's the important part, most likely you learned from what didn't work and you did things differently the next time.  Maybe you watered your aloe plant too much or not enough.  Point is you take what you learned and treat the new plant differently. Now maybe this plant dies too but chances are you're more likely to keep trying until you get it right. 

So you mean to tell me you didn't become the best gardener ever of all time overnight?  It's very rare we try something for the first time and are awesome at it.  When this does happen we call it "beginners luck" for a reason. Just try to repeat this amazing first-time success. 

Why do so many of us treat money differently?  Failing at money has a strong emotional component to it that's missing with an activity like gardening.  Try removing this emotional aspect and approach budgeting and tracking your spending with the same mindset as you would with gardening. So what if you mess up the first couple of months with your new and improved budget? 

A more effective mindset would be, 

"What did I learn and what can I do differently next time?"

For example, by tracking my spending I discovered I needed to budget for toiletries.  It was a category that was causing me to overspend every month simply because I wasn't budgeting for it. I would run out of conditioner and have to add it in somewhere or put it on credit.  My conditioner costs $20 to $30  so these kinds of extra purchases were adding up quickly. 

Remember, it's not about doing this perfectly.  It's about trying something new to better your life.  There will be failures and wins so celebrate the wins along the way because they add up to a life that you can truly say you consciously created. 

Ready to crush debt now?  Click here to learn more about the debt snowball. 

Until next time just remember...

Kristine