How Do You Track Your Money?
Posted by Gail | Filed under Money Management
I routinely get people asking me for recommendations for software programs they can use to track their spending. I don’t answer these questions because I don’t use software programs and have had no experience with them. While there are quite a few options available, I’ve always seen it as another layer I don’t need.
I have two systems that I use together to keep track of my money. They’ve worked for me for years, so I’m sticking with them. First, I have a cash flow excel spreadsheet.
In the first column is my monthly budgeted amount, and then across the page are each of the months of the year. This excel sheet does two things for me:
- It allows me to see if I’m on budget for the month overall and within each category, and
- At the end of the year it shows me what I’ve averaged in each category.
There are some numbers that I fill in right across the board for every month like mortgage payments, for example. I just fill each month’s mortgage payment amount in right off the bat. Ditto my other fixed expenses. If something changes, I can change the amount, but that seldom happens so copying it across all the months saves time.
The category that sees the most action on my budget is “groceries.” Each time I shop, I bring home the receipt and enter the amount in my grocery category so I have a running total of what I’ve spent.
There are some categories that don’t get spent very often: home insurance, property taxes, home maintenance, clothes, gifts. These are auto transferred to my ING account called “budget overflow” so the money earns some interest. Then, when I need that money, I transfer it back to my transaction account.
My savings and emergency fund money are auto transferred every month to their respective savings accounts so I don’t even have to think about them.
The other system I use is a notebook and pen. I put my balance at the top of the first page and every cent I spend is tracked manually so I always know exactly how much money is in my account. Whether I use a debit card or a credit card, I deduct it from my balance in this book so that I’m not tempted to spend the same money twice. When the credit card bill comes it, I check it against my book, label all the transactions covered by that statement with a letter of the alphabet (I’ll only need 12 for the year) and when I pay the bill, I make a note of the letter of the alphabet I’ve used. So when I pay my March bill, it’ll cover all the transactions on my credit card that I’ve labeled “C”. If something didn’t come through on my March bill, I know it’ll be on my April bill. But the money has already been deducted from my balance, so I won’t delude myself that I have more money than I owe.
I have a list of auto-deductions at the front of the notebook so that I can enter those each month without worrying about forgetting one. I also have a list of all the bills that I get each month so that if one doesn’t arrive (like the hydro bill last month) I can call and see whazzup.
I’ve had more than a few people tell me my system is anal. “Button down” is how I like to think of it. And I’ve had more than a few people tell me there’s no way they have the time for such a complicated system. Really, you have time to watch TV, play hockey, go shopping, entertain family and friends, schlep your kids to their events, but you don’t have time to manage your money? Hmmm, must not be that important to you. I’ve also had people tell me that they can’t: can’t remember, can’t keep track of their receipts, can’t deal with all the numbers. Grow up! You bust your butt making the money that’s leaking out of your hands. “I can’t” is a cop-out. “I can’t” is a lie. It’s not that you “can’t”, it’s that you “won’t!”
There are loads of ways to keep track of your money. I’m not about to tell you what you MUST do. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself. My way works for me. Other people have ways that work best for them. As long as you have a system that works, you go with that system. If your way isn’t working, you can whine about it, or you can make the effort to come up with a better system.
Okay, it’s your turn. What are your best ideas for tracking your money on a day-to-day basis?
June 22, 2009 at 6:42 am
All I can say is “Wow”. I thought I was doing a lot using the jars and the budget. Now I see there’s so much more and it probably explains why I sometimes have “leaks” in my budget that I can’t easily find.
June 22, 2009 at 6:52 am
I have 2 excel sheets. One is my monthly budget with all the expenses. In that I spend every dollar I earn. This is so that every dollar has a name. It’s broken down into each pay as well. It’s very detailed. The other spreadsheet is my actual spending. I have a spreadsheet for each pay and when I come home from the store I enter what I have spent from each category and where I spent it. This month I tried the old fashion envelope system and I wrote what I spent on the envelope. It’s easier than the spreadsheet but I like the spreadsheet better.
Looking forward to hearing how everyone keeps track.
June 22, 2009 at 6:54 am
I forgot to add that in the budget spreadsheet, once something is paid or the money for the jars has been withdrawn from my bank account I highlight in a certain colour so I know that its been paid. This is how I track to make sure I’ve received and paid all my bills.
June 22, 2009 at 7:25 am
I just track things on my computer, using Excel. The spreadsheet I use has been modified over the last two years (since I started tracking my money, after moving out on my own in 2007 and realizing my credit card bill was higher than I thought it should be!).
It’s a very basic, but thorough, spreadsheet. I create a new one each year, and this year, I added all my savings accounts too, since I needed to know when I hit my $5000 for the TFSA. Last year, I added my student loan to the spreadsheet, and calculated interest owed on it (changes with each payment, so it seems a little complicated for some, and also varies by the day I pay (# of days interest is accumulating)), so that I can play with numbers and figure out where I stand on it.
I use my spreadsheet like you use your receipts and book – I just like to keep it all in one spot, and update it every few days. It really helps me figure out how I’m doing for the month, and I don’t even consider the money in my account as being available – I consider the remaining money that I show as being available on my spreadsheet in each category as being available. For example, after ribfest this weekend, I currently have $37.29 available for my entertainment purposes until July 1, so that includes eating out, going to a movie, etc. Any money leftover in any category gets sent to my savings account on the last day of the month, and the figures all start fresh in the following month, so not quite the way you do things, Gail.
But again, Excel suits me just fine. I find tracking everything to be empowering, rather than limiting though. Sure, it keeps me accountable, but it also allows me to know where I stand, encourages me to make decisions on what matters, and helps me learn to make the most of what I have. I also like knowing where things stand, including my loan payments and what I need to do to have things paid off in a certain amount of time.
June 22, 2009 at 7:26 am
Oh, I should clarify – I say that it;s a thorough spreadsheet. I should say a thorough book, with multiple spreadsheets – one for each savings account, a spreadsheet with my loan, and 12 monthly spreadsheets, all in one book: 2009 expenses.
June 22, 2009 at 7:30 am
I do pretty much the same thing except the excel worksheet…my budget is the same each month…i write in a book every credit charge i make then check it against the bill when it arrives then it’s paid in full…lots of people laugh at me when i tell them what i do but i’m the one laughing because i keep track and therefore my bill is never more than the money i have to pay it…i also keep a check register marking off all auto debits etc…that’s the book i go by to know what i have “leftover” not what my bank account says…and of course i have all the savings, emerg fund, planned spending, resp and rsp accts…time consuming?…a little BUT oh so very worth it…AND I have been doing this since I first started working at age 18…I am now almost 43 and the system hasn’t failed me yet!
June 22, 2009 at 7:54 am
I think it’s important to start off simple. A year ago I created a huge Excel spreadsheet, with about 30 columns for each category of purchases I wanted to track … I wanted to track Food, but also Junk Food, Pet Food and Pet Treats. Anyways, I lasted about a month with this method. Each bill from the grocery store would have to be split between several categories so that I could track everything the way I wanted it. It got too complicated. I gave up.
Come July 1st, I will try tracking my spending again, but this time I limiting it to ten categories.
June 22, 2009 at 8:52 am
I started this year with an excel spreadsheet that was essentially like what everyone here is talking about. It lasted until April, at which point I lost a little steam with it because I was enjoying my plain ‘ole budget binder better. I created that mid-March and it is going strong!
The first sheet of the binder is our monthly budget that I made from Gail’s budget worksheet. I love this spreadsheet because it’s totally comprehensive and makes complete sense to me. It is a printed copy as the first page because it is a visual every time I open the binder. In the front pocket of the binder I keep a short list of needs & wants that are not immediate. Again, it’s just a visual to remind me of our goals every time I open the binder. The needs are longer-term needs and the wants are simply a variety of wants!
Then I have a page for each category, with a basic table made in word. At the top of the page is the title for that category, as well as the total amount available in that category (kind of like the jar label) Each table has a column for date, payment method, store it was purchased and transaction total. Then there is a final column to do a running total for the month after any amount is spent. Behind each page like this is a clear page protector, in which I put all of the receipts for that category. Once a month I clean these out.
This has worked well for us so far, although I am not super anal about not going over in the categories. It always balances though. For example, this month we are already $140 over in our grocery budget, but we had company at the beginning of the month which upped the bill. We still have $200 left untouched in entertainment though so it doesn’t really matter to me.
This summer I am planning to incorporate the jars and cash. I am not working for the first time (new teacher) for the two months of summer and I think it will be good to see the money. Because I don’t have any money coming in, I also need to make sure we are really diligent about not overspending.
June 22, 2009 at 8:52 am
I used the exact same methodology as Gail. I have a spreadsheet that I used to keep track of what’s coming in and what’s going out. However, instead of monthly, I have bi-weekly column as my hubby and I gets paid bi-weekly. I plan our expenditures by using our base salary. Anything that comes in on top of the base salary is gravy. Our savings all goes out automatically the day after pay-day (I wanted the one day as a buffer just in case). Savings gets paid first (this includes EF, RRSPs, RESPs, planned spending and vacation fund), then fixed expenses (mortgage, home/car insurance, life/critical illness insurance, utilitites, child care), and then the variables. I use zero-based budgeting (where every dollar is accounted for). I normally have the budget laid out a month or two in advance. Most of the figures are the same (Savings and fixed expenses), the only things that changes month to month is groceries pretty much.
Like Rachel, I highlight the items as I ’spend’ them. for example, when the bill is paid, I highlight it to remind me that that money is already out of the account. My system works well for me.
June 22, 2009 at 8:58 am
Actually, you do use a software program. That is what Excel is.
June 22, 2009 at 9:03 am
http://www.wesabe.com
it is a free online website who allow you to track you expenses and earnings.
It works well for me and it give me the real picture of my finances.
June 22, 2009 at 9:06 am
I use excel to track everything as well!
June 22, 2009 at 9:16 am
Excel spreadsheet with a tab to record ALL financial transactions (i.e. credit card, debit, bill payments, cash, etc.) for each year. All entries include the transaction type, date, date posted, category, description, amount, and whether or not the transaction posted. I have automatic calculations in place to show the current and future calculated balance in my chequing account and the current balance on all my credit cards.
A budget tab that pulls data from the individual annual transaction tabs to compare expenses to the current budget and to prior years going back to 2002.
A “monthly” tab that pulls data from the individual annual transaction tabs to compare the YTD budget with the YTD expenses. (Helps to know how much room I have left in the month or year in a particular budget category so I can cut back if necessary.)
Individual tabs for all the different savings (i.e. RRSP, TFSA, etc.) accounts.
An individual general RRSP tab to ensure I don’t over-contribute and to plan my monthly contributions.
An investment tab to track the performance of specific stocks or mutual funds to help make buy and sell decisions.
June 22, 2009 at 9:20 am
Another vote for Wesabe .. it can automatically download ING Direct and TD bank for me too.
June 22, 2009 at 9:43 am
i have an excel spreadsheet that is formatted like a calendar. all fixed expenses, bills, savings, emergency fund, as well as income (as our paydates are not sync) are indicated on schedule. we have very small income, and this system shows us how much money we have or don’t have for the coming weeks or the coming months. we know if we have to cut back on variables for a month and we know if we can afford something or not.
for every week i have a scheduled expense called “jar money” , which we spend for our groceries, clothing, entertainment, etc. we don’t track our expenses coming from the jars, we just know that if we have money in them, we can still spend. if they are running out, it means we have to stop spending for the week. if there is any leftover, we can splurge on something we really like without feeling guilty. if we have to use our credit/debit cards, we just take the money from the jars and keep it in a separate jar. the money will be deducted from next week’s jar money withdrawal and added for next week’s jar fund. this system works for us. we don’t have to keep track of every single purchase, but we know we are within our budget.
June 22, 2009 at 9:49 am
Personally I use a software program (but I hesitate to name it as it really doesn’t need the free advertising).
I am a visual person. Pie charts and bar graphs help me see where stuff goes and how much I have left in each category. A huge spreadsheet full of numbers doesn’t help me. (I blame the dyslexia)
. To each their own, I suppose.
But it’s important to remember, it’s not the system that makes it work, it’s the discipline. If you don’t use the software to PLAN (rather analyze after the fact), all it is is a giant kick in the butt at the end of the month. Cause it shows you exact how poorly you did.
June 22, 2009 at 9:50 am
I have one spreadsheet for each month and the columns are Date, Particulars, Reconciled(R), Actual, Committed, Credit, Balance. I set up the 12 worksheets at the beginning of the year and copy my Expense and Revenue categories like Mortgage, Hydro, PUC, with the corresponding budget figure to the Committed (but not spent) category. When I pay a bill, I move the actual bill amount to the actual category and put a ‘0′ in the Committed category. I have a declining balance at the bottom of the columns that tells me the balance of the Actual vs Committed and as I move the paid bills to actuals, I know the total that has been paid and the amount still to be paid. When a bill has been paid I also mark ‘x’ in the reconciled column so I know at a glance this item has been reconciled with the bank statement.
However, as always, I once again have to say that Gail’s Interactive Budget Sheet is excellent in that it makes you recognize that you should not spend more than you make, it’s great for use with the jar system. For instance if you have a $300 food budget, you put the $300 in the jar and once it is gone, it is gone and you know it. Gail’s budget is good in that I can compare what percentage of my income is used for household expenses compared to what she estimates it should be. For instance my housing costs are more than the prescribed 35% where as my transportation costs are miniscule to the prescribed 15% as I take a bus and the costs are much less. Finally her separation from Emergency Fund from Savings is a god-send when I found it because I no longer tap into my savings for my emergencies. It works well for me.
June 22, 2009 at 10:02 am
l like spendingprofile.com because I get easy graphs but I might move to Excel.
June 22, 2009 at 10:17 am
I use Excel as well; I like Excel because you can customize the columns the way you want.
My boyfriend has a love/ hate relationship with my spreadsheets; he loves the fact that he doesn’t have to wonder where his money goes or worry if we have outstanding bills; but he hates that he has to put most of his pay cheque into our joint account in accordance with the spreadsheet!
June 22, 2009 at 10:21 am
We use an Excel spreadsheet and Microsoft Money. The software program works well for us because most of our purchases are electronic. And we’re in the habit of monitoring our bank accounts online. We can directly download our bank and credit card info and have it all right there.
Cash spending is tracked in the Excel spreadsheet. We enter what we spent on cash every night. However, most nights there isn’t anything. The electronic data is monitored regularly, and reconciled and entered into Excel once a month.
June 22, 2009 at 10:48 am
We track everything in Wesabe too – it’s great! We use debit for everything (I actually spend cash more readily than debit, so it saves me money – plus we have no-fee accounts). It’s very easy to update, and a little less labour intensive than some other methods.
There is a great “spending targets” area too. Love it!
June 22, 2009 at 10:52 am
I used to use Quicken, but, and this is a bit ironic for an it pro, found it over complicated.
With Quicken I ran into the problem where I was catorgizing everything and letting the information sit there, not doing any planning with it. Honestly, unless you know quicken or ms money well, it’s a pain to use. I had a friend in a simillar situation.
Now, I use a simple spreadsheet (well, maybe not so simple, it’s evolved over time) but 1 excel workbook meets all my needs. I track what I want to track, budget categories that make sense to me and the rest is ignored. I don’t need to track every penny. We’ve created virtual jars with multiple high interest savings accts in our RBC online banking and have auto-payments dump everything at one time into the approriate jars. A nice advantage of doing it that was is I have no cash in my chequing acct. If I want to spend money, I have to either use my cc or login to rbc.mobi with my phone and transfer the funds.
Ultimately it depends on the level of detail you want. For me, I track our cell phone, grocery and utility usage, everything else I don’t really worry about. Works great.
June 22, 2009 at 11:06 am
The only trouble with spreadsheets is something called GIGO: Garbage in, Garbage Out. There is nothing to ensure what you are entering is correcting. Some of the more sophisticated software programs allow you to do things like bank reconciliation quite easily, to force you to correct your mistakes. Like most software programs it will do a lot more than you ever need because its written to cover a wide aufdience. But if you use just the features you need , its quite good for keeping you on track and planning, as well as seeing where you have been. Folks just announced that MS Money is being discontinued, but there is still the Intuit products Quickbooks and Quicken, which automate sooo much!
June 22, 2009 at 11:23 am
I use PearBudget, but I use the old version which was just a pre-designed spreadsheet, not an online account.
When I started budgeting, I found it was great because it’s customizable, but it also has a preset structure, so I couldn’t ignore my irregular expenses like I used to with my homemade Excel sheets.
And for me, I prefer to use debit/credit card for everything so that I never worry about mislaying a receipt – all of the transactions are detailed for me automatically.
June 22, 2009 at 11:36 am
Excel for us too. every fall, i lay out the upcoming year ahead, plug in all the fixed expenses, and then each month, i tweak as needed. i like being able to have the year at a glance, it helps with goal setting too. i also have a tab on excel that breaks down each pay cycle and what bills need to be paid on each cycle, so i know what needs to be paid. helps keep me on track
June 22, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I am old fashioned and keep every receipt and manually add them up every week and keep track in my money/budget book. It really doesn’t take more then 10 minutes every week and I can see instantly whats what. I prefer to have to write it out myself, it really makes me think about what I am spending and what I can improve on.
June 22, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I also have an excel spreadsheet. I have different tabs – balance sheet (what will come in and out when, usually done for up to 2 months ahead), budget, savings accounts, mortgage (I track each payment, how much is principal vs interest, years & month left – it motivates me to make extra payments), retirement, and in case of…(for my husband). I can access my bank accounts, mortgage, rrsp’s, and credit card (how I pay for all the variable expenses) online, and check every morning to make sure everything is coming and going and being charged as it should. I’m a bit nutty about my spreadsheet, but it makes me feel in control of my money and I adore it!
June 22, 2009 at 12:29 pm
We use a method simular to Gail’s. First we have a modified Jar system. I use Envelopes. A the top of the Envelope I put the name (Like Groceries) and the amount that Envelope get’s each week. (This makes reciepts easy to find too) Then below I have written Amount, Total and Date. At the beginning of the week write the amount I have added under the Amount column then add the amount to the previous week’s total. I then Circle that number. That’s how I know how much I have for that week. Each time I spend something from that Envelope, I write is on the envelope and subtract it from the total. (Just as a note, I take the Envelope with me when I go shopping and do all the math on the Envelope before I leave the parking lot to go home.)
Then I have a speadsheet where I fill in everything as it happened. (This includes Car payments, Bill payments, and the transactions from the Envelope’s) Then when my statements come in, I print them out to reconcile. I use a different colored highlighter for each statement (Credit Card = Pink, Chequing Account = Blue ect…) I have also set up another page in my spreadsheet where I keep running totals for the year. (My monthly sheet keeps running totals for the month)
June 22, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Hi Kristy: I use the “jar” system but cannot actually use the jars as we have a cat who thinks the best game in the world is pushing the jars off the counter, table, shelf etc. We have put them in the cupboard and even a drawer but she can open both. A real Cat Burglar you know. I was using envelopes but they kept tearing and if you stick them shut they are useless. Now I use plastic ziplock bags – the ones with the zipper top. Works great and easy to take with me when I shop.
I use an excel spread sheet set up in such a way that I can distribute each pay cheque into the appropriate budget columns and then just subtract all payments and withdrawals from their appropriate place. The sheet carries forward the amounts from month to month. At first it takes time to set things up but now I can do an entire months bookkeeping in minutes. I know where every penny is and is going and this may be anal but having spent most of our financial life up to my butt in alligators I can happily live with being called anally retentive now.
June 22, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Luddite Catherine here. I like the olden days of paper and pen.
I make a budget using Gail’s wonderful site on the computer…but other than that I use my version of her jars (coupon accordion file from the dollar store) and have a 3 column account book for debit, credit and balance (under $6.00 at Staples and it lasts a couple of years). I go to the bank once a week. Everything that we spend is in there. I have years of these books and can look back to see what was what and when. Also have at the back of one book a running list of home repairs by date and cost. Easy to look in there to see when the septic tank was last emptied so CACA does NOT happen!
June 22, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@Danny Jellis – That’s why I reconcile my Excel file with my bank statements, investment statements, and credit card statements on a monthly basis. Also, keeping track of my finances this way helps me spot errors made by the banks and credit card companies.
June 22, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I’m impressed with everyone who has the discipline to fire up the computer and enter the stuff into excel. We tried that for a while but it became a chore to do. So we got a notebook fro mthe dollar store, put some headings in it and just write what we spend in there. Much, much easier and its easier to flip pages back than it is to scroll up (for us anyway).
June 22, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Luddite Catherine – I love it! I’m all for paper and pen as well. I do use Excel for my husband’s self-employment bookkeeping but find at times that I over-organize things, if you know what I mean. And I really like your idea of keeping track of household repairs. I’m going to start that as well.
June 22, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Excel baby here…I can tell you what I spent in groceries in March 2005 (and I can also tell you it was a heckuvalot less than I spent in March 2009!). I find it eash, convenient, and my morning ritual with the first cup of coffee right after I check email (never know when someone’s gonna tell me I’ve fallen into money besides my daily horoscope reading right?) and my daily catch-up with Gail.
June 22, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Excel. My husband wants to do the jars but I can’t imagine nagging him for his reciepts…at least with debit there is accountable.
I bought a bunch of brown letter envelopes and I write the month and year on the front. At the end of the month, I organize them based on the categories in my excel file. Add in the cash reciepts after I have reconsiled the bank statements and credit cards. I may not have all the reciepts. It works for our family, but we still do spend too much. It’s a balancing act
June 22, 2009 at 4:04 pm
We use a CC for all purchases (for grocery points) and have a HELOC mortgage so we really need to keep track of all our spending ourselves. It sounds like that would be more complicated, but it really isn’t. We took the time, initially, to figure out all our yearly expenses, broke it down into monthly expenses for the fixed costs, and delegated every dollar left over to our variable expenses and upping fixed items (like mortgage payments and savings). We have been doing this for several years in a binder. There’s a clear pocket at the front for bills, that are filed away monthly, a tab with our master budget and record of bills to claim for taxes, a tab for our CC bills, and a tab for our bank statements.
We now have a 2nd binder by the phone so when we get home and check the messages, we slide our receipts into it, or enter them immediately (there really aren’t as many as you’d expect before you do this – well, for us anyway) onto the right page (one page for each category, as Gail does) with columns for date, store, amount spent, and running total. Simple, so it can work for the long term, hopefully, (it’s only been 2 months with the binder, but I don’t notice an increased work load) and our categories are budgeted on the high end with the idea that there will always be money left and we can transfer that to fixed expenses again rather than spend time worrying about having enough.
Now that we have a few years of solid records under our belts, I am also planning to change the master budget to a yearly one, as a business would, with a breakdown of the past year, a projection of the coming year, and an actual for said year.
That’s it. All with a paper and pen – something about touching it seems to work better than software we’ve tried!
June 22, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I am so impressed by all the work going on here!
Honestly my method is so embarassing…. I just see what was spent the last 6 months in each category by looking online or bank statements, then I add up the columns, divide by 6 and make a point of keeping it at (or below) that number for the following month(s). VIOLA! Budget is made! (Okay a little too simple — I do adjust when I think we are paying too much for services, using too much electricity, etc when other costs like gas and groceries go up noticably).
I don’t know why I am confessing that to all you organized people!
NOTHING is what I know about setting up anything in Excel (I have opened a blank workbook and then stared even more blankly at it hoping it will know what I want). And I lose notebooks too often to use them effectively, and my husband is terrible for not asking for receipts! So the only foolproof way is to see what is coming out of the bank day by day ( I love the itemized bank statements). We don’t do cash very often so there is little that isn’t really obvious. If my darling Hubby needs to spend $40 on a car part, I see it right away, so the weekly grocery list has more hamburger casseroles ingredients, instead of something for the grill! I have been doing it long enough to anticipate big annual bills and know how much is to be in there by whatever date, basically, my “zero” line just moves accordingly. And I have mentioned before I have a “float” that the checking account runs from, any extra goes straight to the high interest savings
(I’m the first to admit it is not a great system, but we are doing well with it… no debt (except small mortgage), a safety net saved up and automatic contributions going to RRSPS. We don’t feel hog tied to software to tell us how we are doing either!)
In short I know where the money goes, just not in predetermined micro detail.
June 22, 2009 at 4:38 pm
We use Quicken Cash Manager. We bought it ages ago during our first attempt at getting our finances under control. Funny thing about these things is that they don’t magically make your money problems better if you don’t use them much
Anyway, once we saw Gail’s show a few times and felt that good kick in the pants it gave us, we actually started using it mroe and checking on it regularly. It has a budget section, easy ways to view and track all your accounts (including credit cards and student loans), a place to see a summary of your net worth, all sorts of graphs and charts to tell you what percentage of your budget goes where…it probably has even a lot more features that I don’t know about yet.
All in all, I love it…I love just about all things to do with computers, though. If you’re not a fan of playing around with stuff like that, I don’t think I’d recommend it.
June 22, 2009 at 5:02 pm
We have a small black book – similar to the budget binder. Everything we spend goes into it. At the start of the month I draw columns for the date, store/bill, what money was spent on, category (mortagage, utilities, insurances, gas, groceries, entertainment, etc.), amount, and method paid. When bank statements and credit card bills come in I check everything off. At the end of the month I total all the categories and make sure everything fell within our desired spending. We don’t have a formal budget – at the end of the month – whatever is left over from our earnings is moved into a high interest savings account. We don’t spend more than we make – so this system works well for us.
I am a little strange. The idea of a formal budget scares me – my parents were spenders – and I feel if I know I can spend X amount on groceries, clothes, or entertainment I will spend the full amount every month. The way we do it – I am always aware of everything I spend. Makes me a little crazy – but it’s a good crazy.
I like keeping track with pen and paper – it makes it feel more real then using a computer. It seems others agree with this.
June 22, 2009 at 5:09 pm
http://www.wesabe.com
Gotta say, if you haven’t tried it… you totally should. The graphs and charts are just reallynice.
Because I’m very untrusting, I upload my bank’s files manually, rather than letting it do it for me. And also, I keep a spreadsheet record/MS Money install as a backup.
June 22, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Luddite Catherine! Ha! Love it. I would have to say that I am with you as I am very technologically challenged BUT I have had to give up pen and paper. The pen may be mightier than the sword but it is no match against a whining husband. I had to give up my manual record keeping and go computerized in order to get him to participate and learn about our budget. He was willing enough to make the manual entries in our budget binder but he just didn’t want to do the adding and subtracting. With Excel everything gets figured out instantly so he is now a happy budgeter.
June 22, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I suppose the difference for me is that I’m using my computer every day anyways, so to open up my expenses document on a regular basis is no stretch for me.
That and I’m lazy. Once I’ve created my document, I just use my =x+y or =sum(x:y) formulas (or whatever formula I need), and for the most part, the only time I need to update the formula is for my categories of spending – everything else is pre-filled based on the document, so I just enter in the details and let the math complete itself. It’s especially good for the student loan interest calculations, though every time prime rate changes, I have to redo my calculation of interest (there’s two different rates for Canada vs. Ontario loans), so it took a bit of trial and error to get the percentage correct, but now I just update the amount I’ve paid, if my budget ever needs to vary from my intended payment (which is currently almost 40% of my take home pay – yikes! It’s almost done though).
June 22, 2009 at 6:34 pm
I like Microsoft Money. It can do anything…update prices of stock/mutual funds, calculate mortgage amortization schedules, refinancing tools and comparison, budget tracker, cash flow projections, net worth….all in one package!
I collect receipts of my purchases. At the end of a week, I input them all in to the software and I can see instantly where I stand. At the beginning, there is a lot to input, but once you’ve done it, all you have to do is just update as your circumstances change.
June 22, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Hi Maureen,
I lick the envelope’s shut then cut off the top. Ziploc’s are a good idea too! Thanks for the idea.
June 22, 2009 at 7:03 pm
@Mary – glad I could inspire you to keep easy track of home expenditures.
I’m always amazed how many times I have to look something up.
@Maureen – if hubby’s happy AND helping….go for it! Whatever works.
@Kristy – LOL did you know there are calories in the glue you are licking???
June 22, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I am an Excel junkie as well.
June 23, 2009 at 12:48 am
I love spreadsheets. The only “twist” I use is that I have set-up my spreadsheet on google documents (linked to my gmail email account). It is stored online and my husband and I have shared access to it. Either of us can update our numbers (though it is almost always me!).
June 23, 2009 at 1:29 am
Well I’m still trying to get into using a spreadsheet but I found that a notebook broken into sections for each category is easier to get to write the amounts of receipts into it and attach them than I know the receipts r counted for.. I’m in my late 20’s and still don’t like computer as much as the calculater and pen and paper.. Even though lately the calculater seems to be playing games when it adds or minus every so often.. WEIRD! EH!
for emergency fund in savings [since Dec.] and very happy we now afford with only cash to go on weekend vacation some time this yr.. Also I’ve twink the budget a few times since we started in Dec… 
I use envelopes that I get in the mail and write-out the address and put the category [with a small description] on and amount that I put in each payday and only carry the ones I need when I go out or I don’t remember how much each one has if I leave in a clump in my wallet..
The only category I don’t watch so closely is hubby spending money since he doesn’t like to ask for receipts on the things he buys. So I take away his debit cards so the bills don’t bounce and he has anuf spending cash and only cash for between the pay periods.. He has slowly gotten use to of the idea and when he wants them I remind him that I make sure there’s anuf money in the account for the bills and there is no spending cash in the accounts left to take out until next pay…
I’m glad to say we’ve reached just above $1000
I’m happy there is someone out there to give us the info.. to learn to budget probaly and not to use the cc for everything. I’m sick of being in debt and happy that we’re getting ahead with the cash flow since it’s more challenging to wait for the item … Thanks GAIL!
June 23, 2009 at 9:06 am
I use Quicken and find it easy to use once your expenses are entered in to the program. I have set up most of our large living expenses (insurance, utilities) to the companies budget plan and put them on automatic withdrawl. This way I know exactly my fixed expenses for any given period in a month/quarter/ year. and when the money will be coming out of the account. I find it easier to enter to forecast when I enter all these expense for the pay period (2 wks)in the register on payday and then see what is left for variables. I then look to the next pay period to see if it is better or worse money wise and budget accordingly.
I have been Gail junkie for years and have preached your common sense more often then i should have to.
June 26, 2009 at 2:28 am
[...] Vaz Oxlade asks How Do You Track Your Money, which is always a topic I love to talk about, although Gail’s method is a bit higher work [...]
July 15, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Not sure if this is the right spot but something just dawned on me while grocery shopping today… We have doing the jars since Jan 09 and since we have been pulling cash out of the machine and then shopping and paying cash. But by doing this we have not been getting the PC points that I using “spend” on my Christmas extras. So today I go and try and pull the money out of the machine and it is out of service. The debit at the tills are working so I figure I will just debit it instead and figure out how to deal with the amount that is left over from my weekly amount left in the account and not in my jar. I went through the self checkout and after selecting debit it asks if you want cash back – I never used to use this option so I TOTALLY forgot about it!. Then a light bulb goes off! Hey I’ll just cash back the difference from the amount owing for the groceries and my weekly allowance (turned out to be 9.64) and my bank statement shows that I pulled out the full amount that I would have on the machine!
Brilliant!
I’m others already know this but I thought I would share – I guess I was just a little slow since I was trying to work with just “cash” from my jars :0)
August 18, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I looked for software that could keep track of our expenses. Instead, I made a simple spreadsheet in Excel that helps to keep track of all our ‘FIXED’ expenses and helps to even the cash flow between monthly bills, bi-monthly paycheques and bi-weekly mortgage payments. I have a spreadsheet that lists by date all the fixed expenses and paydays for the up-coming year down the left side of the page. All our bills are on an equal payment/pre-authorized payment plan, and are fairly consistent. We get paid twice a month. The spreadsheet adds up all the fixed expenses for the year and divides by the number of paycheques. It calculates how much we need to deposit in our “fixed expenses” account every payday. It calculates the fixed expenses paid between paycheques, then subtracts this amount from the amount we deposited on payday. The remainder is added to the amount we add on the next payday. Then the next group of bills is automatically deducted, etc. The system works well for us because there is always a positive balance in the acoount that is just enough to cover the fixed expenses, no more and no less.
I find this system ‘evens’ our cash flow for paying bills because we deposit the same amount every payday. If we have an extra mortgage payment scheduled, for example, in November, then that cost is allocated evenly into all of the previous paycheques prior to November. By the time November rolls around, we have the money available for the extra mortgage payment already in the ‘fixed expenses’ account. If a bill payment changes, or an extra fixed expense has to be added, then the spreadsheet automatically corrects for the amount that needs to be deposited each pay. I regularly compare my spreadsheet with our online banking statements and check each bill as it gets (automatically) paid.
The cash that doesn’t go into out ‘fixed expense’ account goes into emergency, savings and jars.
August 28, 2009 at 1:33 am
[...] How Do You Track Your Money? « gailvazoxlade.com [...]
November 22, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I use Microsoft Money 2006, and Excel. I use MS Money for all tracking of income and expenses for all accounts including mortgage, credit cards, mutual funds, and loans. It does take awhile to setup, but worth it in the end. I can get an accurate snapshot of how we are doing and know exactly what the value of my mutual funds are, and know what the balances of all my accounts to the penny.
I use Excel for a cashflow speedsheet to show what bills are coming up and when they will come out of my chequing acct. I also track my cash expenses. We have a Manulife One Mortgage (A big line of credit for a mortgage) and I track that account with a seperate spreadsheet. I have a several columns that represent different items we have bought with this account and everything is kept seperate. So I know exactly what is left on our mortgage, furniture amount remaining, vacation account, and my deferred items account. (I keep track of deferred items that we have paid for but not used up yet, ie. plane tickets, reservations for 2010 Olympics, then in Feb 2010, I expense those items to use them up.)
This spreadsheet exactly matches the totals that are in MS Money program. The excel just allows me to see better what goes in and where the money goes when we make a transfer to our M One account. It requires a little work to keep everything up to date, but well worth it at the end of the year. I can see exactly where our money went and compare to other years and the budget.
March 9, 2010 at 7:35 am
[...] are also going to become meticulous at tracking your spending. After all, you don’t want to have to go through this pain again, [...]