How to

Track your spending

Discover three techniques to see where your money goes and how you could optimize your budget to better meet your personal targets.

Why track your spending?

How much do you spend on snacks or parking? How often do you eat out for lunch or splurge on that premium latte? The little things can add up quickly without your noticing it. By tracking your habits, you can see exactly where your money goes and see where you can make minor adjustments that can bring you a whole lot closer to achieving your goals.

Take note

It might seem old school but recording your spending in a small notebook is by far the easiest way of keeping track of where your money goes every day. Keep the notebook in your pocket, your purse, or your car, and break your daily expenses down into a few categories like food, clothing, transportation, shelter, and entertainment. Jot down your expenses as you go or make it a part of your daily routine by listing all your expenses for the last 24 hours every night before dinner, for example.

Collect your receipts

Step it up a notch and file away your receipts throughout the week before inputting them into a spreadsheet on your computer. By using a spreadsheet to keep track of your spending, you can categorize your expenses and see daily, weekly, and monthly patterns emerge. If you’re particularly tech-savvy, you could create charts from your spreadsheet to better visualize where your money goes. Either way, you’ll probably need one to two hours per week to organize and log the information, but it’ll make for a great opportunity to reflect on how you’ve managed your money over the past week.

Use an expense tracker

Download an expense tracker app and let your smartphone do the work for you. There are many apps to choose from and some of the best-rated are free. With an expense tracking app, you’ll be able to input your expenses on the go and pull reports on your spending habits right then and there. These apps are a quick and easy way to track your spending in the moment and can help reduce the chances that you’ll put off your tracking for another time.