Track Spending
Tracking your spending helps you understand exactly where your money is going, allowing you to identify patterns and areas where you may be overspending. By regularly monitoring your expenses, you can make adjustments to stay within your budget and ensure you are directing funds toward your financial priorities.
Reading
Key Ideas
- Compliments budgeting
- Allows for comparison over months or other time periods
- Helps trim and/or redirect spending
Activities
Track your spending every day for a month to find out exactly where your money is going. Don’t forget small purchases—they can really add up!
Spending leaks happen—can you identify yours?:
- Daily coffee purchase; lunch out
- Streaming services, software subscriptions, membership clubs
- Bank fees (overdrawn account fees, fees for using ATMs through other banks, etc.)
- Impulse buying
Ideas for plugging those leaks:
- Make your own coffee and lunch at home.
- Cancel a streaming service or subscription, redirect that money into a savings account or investment.
- Ask your bank or credit union if they offer overdraft protection.
- Evaluate your budgeting system, try something different if it’s not working.
