Howdy, everyone. I was wondering what you all use to track your finances. I need to have something that costs very little, is portable (so that I can take it anywhere), and is easy to use. My initial thought is something like a moleskin notebook to write notes about what I spend money on or planner pages to track expenses. It just seems like my money just disappears and I hope something like this will help me to find the leaks!
Finance Tracking??
November 10th, 2008 at 03:51 am
November 10th, 2008 at 03:56 am 1226289381
November 10th, 2008 at 05:55 am 1226296523
I keep track of my budget in an Excel spreadsheet, which I can access through any Web-enabled computer because I keep it in Google docs, a free place to store documents. For household spending like groceries, I allot a certain dollar amount twice a month in my budget-tracking spreadsheet, and then when I buy things using my debit card, I subtract that amount from the set dollar amount, so that I always know how much money I have left in that budget category.
If you do cash withdrawals, I would stop that, unless you withdraw exactly what you are meant to spend for a week.
For incidentals and personal stuff, I withdraw cash every Friday and distribute it among my family. We don't have to track that; it's our money to save or spend as we please.
Just my methods; hope this helps!
November 10th, 2008 at 02:08 pm 1226326089
There are some free ones out there like YNAB.com. I also think some people use quicken.
Good luck.
November 10th, 2008 at 03:58 pm 1226332719
November 10th, 2008 at 04:51 pm 1226335882
November 10th, 2008 at 06:56 pm 1226343398
1.groceries/household supplies
2.gas
3.allowance for my daughters
4.misc. I put $10.00 in this category every week and sometimes I use it if I am short and sometimes I use it for thrift stores etc...
I keep track of my monthly expenses with a large 3 ring binder. I also keep important papers related to my kids, meal planning and recipes in here. We tried excel for awhile but I really prefer my binder/envelope system.
November 10th, 2008 at 09:11 pm 1226351474
November 11th, 2008 at 01:18 pm 1226409522