This will help you keep better track of where you are overspending, especially if you use these columns for every expense for the month.Īt the end of the month, add up how much you spent in each category. Make a column for each spending category on your paper, and divide up the receipt into these categories, placing the totals for only those items in the category column. You can even break it down by evaluating your receipts at stores like Target, where you can buy food, clothing, and home goods. Make sure to include where you spent money, what the date was, and how much you spent.
When you are tracking your expenses, keep receipts and spend a few minutes every few days adding up the totals. You can use a website or app that ties into your account, but I think the best way to really process your expenses in your mind is good old paper and pencil (and calculator I’m not a masochist for adding all those expenses!). The best way to find all of the holes is to track your expenses for a solid month. On the days and trips in between, do you drive to multiple stores to get items you could possibly buy in one stop? This not only wastes gas but puts more miles on your car than necessary. Have you been visiting your favorite clothing store more than once or twice a month? Do you buy fuel more than once a week? It is one thing if you travel for work or work farther than you’d like from home and your gas is used up because of it. There will be a list of the where, when, and the amount of money you said goodbye to. Still looking for holes in your wallet? Check out your bank or credit card statement. Instead of always going out for drinks with friends, invite them over for potlucks (or take turns whose apartment you go to) or order soda and skip the alcohol (which is where the majority of your bill comes from). If you really need that mid-morning cup of Joe (and believe me, I understand that need), buy K-cups or coffee grounds to keep in your desk and use the office coffee maker. Limit yourself to one or two lunches out a week, but try to beat how much you ate out last week. These are the more obvious ways your money is disappearing from your account. Are you buying lunch at work five days a week? Does your mid-morning break include a walk and a latte? Do you meet friends each weekend for drinks at the local hotspot?
#I SPENT MONEY CRACK#
Once you realize there is a problem (and your money is disappearing faster than your Easter candy), you need to crack down monitoring what you spend and where. But as they always say, the first step is admitting there is a problem. Finding the culprit, however, may be a little more difficult. It isn’t really a leap to come to the conclusion that something is amiss in your finances if this is the case.
By the end of the pay period, you may have nothing left (or a negative balance) and still need money to pay bills. You get x amount each month (or possibly biweekly) in your paycheck. Money enters your life and money leaves your life.