Hello, lovelies. If my dates are correct, you are all reading this on my last full day in Europe. As I write this, I am drowning in papers and presentations while preparing for final exams. I’m taking a break to get ready for my trip to Europe by scheduling posts in advance.
Today’s post isn’t going to be the most fun but is very useful. I don’t know about you, but I’m shit at keeping track of my spending. I’ve gotten SIGNIFICANTLY better in the last year, and since I know that college expenses aren’t as cut and dry as they will be after we graduate, here’s a list of different ways you can track your spending. I hope it helps.
//Excel Spreadsheet
This is what I use. If you know how to use Excel, it’s a great way to take away the math of tracking your income and expenses. Customize it the way you want to and add expenses as you spend. I like categorizing them by date and item. This isn’t a budget spreadsheet. It’s just a column where I just list everything I spent money on that month.
//On The Notes App On Your Phone
This is how my aunt keeps track of all her expenses. The moment she buys something, whether it’s fast food or a new dress, she takes out her phone and types it out. You can add it all together at the end of the month or just make a custom Google Doc that adds it all up for you.
//Keep Your Receipts
A lot of people don’t keep receipts anymore, which is understandable since many people only use cards and receipts clutter up their purse. I personally use both cash and debit cards, so it can be easy to lose a two dollar expense when I calculate my monthly spending. Keeping receipts for everything I buy allows me to keep physical track of my expenses before I add them to my Excel sheet. I throw away the receipts once I’m done using them.
//Mint.Com
This is a great way to track your spending if you almost exclusively use your card. Mint is a free resource, so it isn’t as detailed as a lot of paid expense trackers, but I think it’s pretty efficient and worth using. Every week, you get a summary of all your expenses and it graphs it in a pie chart to show what you are spending the most money on. You can also set savings goals and the app will track how much you need to save each month plus how close you are to your goal. I don’t use it as much anymore because I’ve learned that it’s better for me to actively enter all my expenses into a spreadsheet, but I really loved this app back when I used it.
//Envelopes
This is another great system if you exclusively use cash. In the world of online shopping, this isn’t the best system for all your expenses, but I think it’s a great system for eating out and coffee runs. Keep all the money you budgeted for eating out in one envelope, then write down how much you spent on the envelope until you run out of eating out money. Once the envelope is empty, you know that you can’t spend more on eating out without going over your budget.
Here’s an example from Frugal Millennial
//Make It Easy
The only way you are going to be able to track your expenses consistently is by making it easy. The second it becomes a nuisance is the second you stop tracking it. Once you get back to it, it’s harder to gather all your spending information at once and odds are that you’ll miss something in the chaos. Do yourself a favor and use a system that is easy to use and easy to track. That way, you’ll know sooner rather than later if you are spending more than you ought to.
//Set A Date Regularly To Write Everything Out In One Place
Do this weekly or biweekly. If you are good at keeping track, you could maybe do it monthly (which I don’t recommend). Every week, I set aside time to type up my income and expenses into my excel spreadsheet. This takes less than five minutes, but it allows me to see how much money I’ve spent so far each month, what I spent it on, and whether it was worth it. It makes a huge difference in my peace of mind when it comes to my finances and allows me to be more mindful about my spending habits.
This post was short and sweet, but I hope it was helpful. I’ll link some of my better personal finance posts below and expect a lot of travel content in the next few months. Until next time!
Related College Finance Posts:
- A Practical Guide To Saving Money In College
- How To Budget In College When You Live At Home
- 13 Things I Don’t Do To Save Money In College
- 3 Things I Splurge Money On In College
- How Much Money I Spend In A Week (As A College Student)
- 6 Money Habits I Want To Start In College
- Why I Decided To Get A Credit Card In College
- 5 Things I Did To Become More Financially Stable This Year
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How do you track your spending?