{"id":23428,"date":"2017-06-27T16:31:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T16:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nomoredebts.org\/?page_id=23428"},"modified":"2025-01-17T06:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T14:24:19","slug":"how-to-make-a-personal-expense-tracker-work-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nomoredebts.org\/blog\/budgeting-saving\/how-to-make-a-personal-expense-tracker-work-for-you","title":{"rendered":"How to Make a Personal Expense Tracker Work for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How to Make a Personal Expense Tracker Work for You<\/h1>\n

by Stacy Yanchuk Oleksy<\/em><\/p>\n

Before diving in to showing you how to make a personal expense tracker work for you<\/span><\/a>, let\u2019s take a quick step back and look at the bigger picture to make sure we understand why we need one. Have you ever asked yourself \u2013 \u201cwhere did all of my money go this month?\u201d Or \u201chow do I have more month to go but no more money?\u201d Money disappears out of our wallet or bank account quite easily. Especially with the pay options we have available to us \u2013 cash, debit, debit\/visa, tap, and paying with our smart phones. The question we need to ask ourselves is who is in the driver\u2019s seat regarding our money? Do I feel like I\u2019m in control, hands on the steering wheel of my finances, intentionally driving where I want to go? Or is something or someone else in the driver\u2019s seat? Things that can \u201cdrive\u201d our finances when we\u2019re not in the driver\u2019s seat can include our impulses, inattention to the small expenses ($5 here, $10 there), our debts and obligations, and of course, other people.\"Steps<\/p>\n

Two Promises We Can Make You Expense Tracking<\/h2>\n

The goal is for us to get into control of our money so we can create the life we want. And the easiest way to get into control is to be consciously aware of where our money is going. I\u2019m going to promise you two things when it comes to tracking expenses \u2013 1) it\u2019s more fun to spend the money than it is to track it; and 2) it is the only way to know where your money is going.<\/p>\n

Think of a bucket; we\u2019re going to fill the bucket with water (income) and poke holes for our various expenses like housing, food, utilities, transportation, etc. But what we often forget about is the coffee we bought this morning (even if it is Tim Horton\u2019s), or the lunch we had to buy because we forgot ours on the counter, or that cute pair of shoes\/sexy drill gun that we had to get because it was on sale. Even if we forgot about those expenses, the holes in our bucket still get added. So now we have water spilling out everywhere which leaves us two choices \u2013 either add more water (money) or start plugging some of the holes. We can only do that when we know what the holes are.<\/p>\n

There are a variety of ways to track your expenses and the thing about budgeting and money management is that there are no right and wrong ways to do things, there are only things that work for you (or don\u2019t). If something works for you, keep doing it. If it doesn\u2019t, find another way.<\/p>\n

Choose the Personal Expense Tracker That Works for You<\/h2>\n

You can kick it old school and track your expenses using pen and paper. You are literally writing down everything you spend money on, on a piece of paper every day. You can use one of the Credit Counselling Society\u2019s free daily expense tracker booklets<\/a>. This is what I use \u2013 I leave it on my nightstand and before bed I open up my banking app, see what got spent and enter the information into the tracker. It takes two minutes tops! You can use various programs or Excel monthly expense tracker spreadsheets<\/a>. And of course, you can use your smart phone.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong> One of the best free budget planners you’ll find, our personal budget calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are a few different ways to track your expenses with your smart phone. You can use a program as an expense manager that requires your permission to gather your spending information from your bank account. You should note though that it doesn\u2019t track cash and you may null and void your financial institution\u2019s protection so read your fine print. The other option is to manually enter your spending into an expense tracker app. There are a lot of these apps available so test the free ones until you find one that works for you. At the end of the day, best expense tracker app is whatever works best for you.<\/p>\n

Common Obstacles That Get in the Way of Tracking Personal Expenses<\/h2>\n

Some obstacles that can get in your way can include:<\/p>\n