3 Steps To Make Tracking Your Expenses Easy
Tracking your expenses will be the thing that will most likely throw you off course when it comes to your budget game.
You know why?
There are a million different ways to do it - although we usually only pick one.
AND, when we try that one thing, we often fail to make it easy - SO...that means we usually can’t stick to it and we give up.
LET’S CHANGE THAT SHALL WE?
Implement these 3 steps to improve your expense tracking game.
IDENTIFY HOW YOU WANT TO GET YOUR NUMBERS. There are a few ways you can do this and it all depends on what feels best for YOU!
REALTIME METHOD: Write down your expense in your budget tracker the minute you purchase something. This means that you will be interacting with your expense tracker on a daily basis for just a few minutes. This method can make it easier to stay on track because you usually won’t ever have a ton of expenses to enter. If you are sharing expenses with someone, I recommend a google drive or another shared app so you each can be paying attention to your expenses as they come in.
ACCOUNT METHOD: Each day or a few times a week - you open up your online accounts for your bank and credit cards and enter in the expenses you see. This works best if you decide on the date time frame you are looking at so you can avoid double entering expenses you already entered. I would only enter in expenses that have cleared and save the “pending” until they have processed. For this one, you just need to be mindful of any expenses that are paid in cash so you can be sure you enter those. We want to track ALL expenses.
DECIDE ON THE TIMING. Once you have decided on the method - then decide on the frequency that feels best based on the method you choose. I always recommend checking your account daily or at least a few times a week.
NOTE: You should never be surprised about an expense hitting your account.
If you are checking your account daily, use that time to enter your expenses. Then, plan on a 15-30 minute money date each week where you look at your weekly expenses and check in on your goals.
IDENTIFY YOUR TRACKING VEHICLE. If you don’t have a place to put those numbers guess what? You won’t put them. Kinda like your closet and clothes. If it isn’t easy to put them away, you probably won’t do it. So now that you know the method and timing, you can pick a vehicle that will work for you.
BUST OUT A NOTEBOOK. That’s right. You don’t have to get into the weeds of technology, writing out your cash flow in a notebook is just as effective.
CHECK YOUR BANK. Nowadays, checking accounts are pretty good at providing budgeting tools with their apps. Look at your bank and see what it has to offer.
DOWNLOAD AN APP. Now, just because this is an app doesn’t mean it will be easy, so keep tinkering around to find the one that works for you. I’ve had students who love: Everydollar, Dollarbird, Emma, and Mint
USE A GOOGLE OR EXCEL SHEET. I love excel and I love google drive and sheets even more because it's a great way to create a shared resource for your household. If you know basic formulas for excel, it can be super easy to create a tracker. Don’t want to bother with creating one? You can purchase and download my Breaking Up With Broke Expense Tracker and Budget Builder now. This is my student’s favorite tool I give them and changes their money game.
Okay, here’s the last bit of advice cupcake...you have to try your method for a week and during your money date, check in with yourself and see how it is going. If it was tough, ask yourself what needs to be easier and try another solution.
Tracking your money flow REQUIRES you to find a method that works for you and that almost always comes after trial and error.
Livin’ & Lovin’
Bri
