Track Your Money

If you find your money seems to disappear and you have no clue where it went, if you know you should have more than you seem to, or if you feel your spending is out of control, then I have a solution for you. The best way to "find" your "lost" money, get a grip on spending or simply to help you keep on budget is to keep track of every cent spent. This seems super overwhelming and once was for me. I would collect my receipts and total them up every other week, I was supposed to anyways but that ends up being ALOT of receipts sometimes. I recently found a better way.

First, go to http://www.spendingdiary.com/ and create your free account. It is very simple to use and keeps track of it all for you!

Next, make sure you get receipts for EVERYTHING you purchase: coffee, gas, candy bars, groceries, etc.

Most importantly enter your purchases into your spending diary. Using regular, generic Categories will help you see what you spend over all in a category. Use specific Names to see where you are specifically spending. You can then look over the day, week or month and see how and where you've spent your money. You can print out your monthly report to keep for later records.

Here is what I've done to make entering the receipts less overwhelming. When I get home and empty my bags or pockets I put all receipts directly on the computer. This way when I get on the computer next I have only a few and enter them right away, first thing. Doing this I've been able to keep on top of all our receipts and spending!