3 Ways To Keep Track of Expenses Starting Today!
Keeping track of expenses is no easy task. What is one to do? There are so many transactions that take place in the average week, and today’s fast-paced lifestyle just won’t allow for it. Or will it? Let’s explore 3 ways to keep track of your expenses and see what works best for you!
Whatever you do, try not to only use your memory to keep track of transactions. Even your checking account statement can be wrong! It’s important to have a system in place to make sure you only pay for what you owe. If you seek financial freedom, you need to make a budget!
Step Back and Look at Your Typical Day
The very first step in evaluating how you should keep track of your expenses is to get a bird’s eye view of your typical day. What do you do on a day to day basis? Are you at work most of the day? Do you have a lot of free time to shop around? Are you accountable to your spouse to make sure the transactions you make fit within your family budget? Whatever your circumstance, make sure you have a great understanding of how your life runs. It’ll help you when you are deciding how to keep track of your expenses!
Three Ways To Keep Track
Now that you have a good idea how your lifestyle works, take a look at the three following ways you might keep track of your expenses – and determine which is right for you!
1. Use your notepad.
As you go throughout your day, if you are not constantly in a rush you might consider using a notepad and pencil. It really doesn’t take that much longer to jot down a few transactions! Here are a few things you should record about any expense:
- The location. It helps to record your location to remind you of what budgeting category to put the expense into.
- The date. Knowing when you made the purchase will help you with the timeline as you think through your transactions.
- The item purchased. This will help you not only put the expense into the correct budgeting category, but it will help you realize when you’ve bought something you probably should have skipped over.
- The budgeting category. Where should you pull the money from? This will help you or your spouse know exactly where to pull the money from when you’re reconciling your transactions.
2. Use your smartphone.
As technology advances, you might consider downloading an app to help you keep track not only of your transactions, but your household budget in general! Use your smartphone to record any transactions that you make during the day. One great idea is to voice record your expenses! This will speed up the process and you can review all your transactions when you get home. While you’re at it, you can purchase with eBillme on your smartphone – now that’s smart!
3. Use your receipts.
Some people choose to simply stuff receipts into their wallet. While this might work well, often if you are keeping receipts for your spouse you might forget to write the budgeting category on it. Make sure that you keep your receipts nice and neat so that when you get home you’ll actually feel like doing the budget! Another benefit of using your receipts is that you can keep them at home – organized – so that you can return any items you need to. Bonus!
What’s Your Choice?
With so many budgeting tools out there, it can be difficult when you are first starting out to find what works for you. Which of these three methods are you currently using or want to try out? Meet us in the comments!
Photo By Andres Rueda
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