Hey, All! Today I thought I’d share my current method on how we track our spending and how we plan that out. If you’ve seen our financial update here then you will know how few categories we have right now. That really simplifies our tracking when there aren’t many categories to track! Basically, we have 3 categories right now that are not bills. We have Gas, Food, and Misc/Other. When we get paid, I give the money we are giving away first, then I pay all our bills and then I leave in the account $100 for gas (we budget $200/mo or $100/pay) as we prefer to pay gas with a debit card than having to prepay. Then I take our food and misc budget out in cash. My husband and I each get $25 per pay or $50/mo and then we have $100 each pay for misc expenses or $200 a month. This covers pet food and supplies, gifts, clothing, home projects, birthdays, etc.
I have an envelope that I keep with my wallet that has the name of the month on the top and then is divided down the middle with a line and divided by four lines across for the four weeks of the month. Each week has $125 for food and $75/wk for other/misc. Right now that covers everything. All our spending has to fit in those two categories. When I make a purchase, I deduct the amount from the category and slip the receipt inside the envelope. That’s it! It gives the whole month overview and I can easily see how we are doing just by pulling it out and looking at it.
You could also keep your money in the envelope but I keep my cash divided and in my wallet. I have cash dividers in my wallet that keep everything separated. I should also mention that I do most of the household shopping and buying what we need for the month so having one envelope to track everything works for us. My husband usually has misc money as well if he needs to pick something up but usually we are together when we are doing errands. When he makes any purchases, he just brings the receipt home and I enter it then.
If you have really complex finances or a super busy life, this may not work for you. We tend to keep things really simple around here. I believe simple things are sustainable things. If it is too complicated it probably isn’t going to stick around long. We try to keep our lives, money, and schedules as simple as possible so that we can have time for the things that are most important to us.
As for tracking bills and our bank balance, we use a 2 column ledger. I can easily flip it open and see exactly what we have spent and where our money has gone. I know some people use apps or excel sheets but I prefer pen and paper. I also think that writing it down makes me more aware than seeing numbers on a screen. I have tried apps and other tracking methods but old fashioned pen and paper still seems the best way for me.
Until next time …
Grace