Keeping Track of Your Budget
08. Mar, 2010 
2 Comments
Author: SpreadsheetZONE
Tracking your budget is not always an easy task to accomplish. At times, you may find yourself lost within the numbers and you can end up going over your budget if you do so.
When on a budget you will not only have to write down what you spend to keep your budget in check, but you will have to track your expenses as well.
By tracking your expenses while on a budget, you will be able to go find new ways you can cut back and in turn end up saving more, or erase even more debt.
The best way I find to track my budget is to create a spreadsheet and have spending categories and sub-categories listed in it. For example, in part of my budget I have transportation as a category, and the sub-categories are “public transportation” and “gas”. I have a specific total I wish to spend each month on transportation, and within these two sub-categories I have allocated a portion of the total amount.
What I find is that you do not want to complicate your budget by having too many categories and sub-categories. Doing so would only make it harder to follow.
Try to start off with a small budget, and once you get the hang of living by it, begin adding to it.
Once you get the hang of using your budget efficiently, you will find yourself saving more and if you happen to be in debt, you will be debt free even sooner than you would have though possible.
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- Affluence and Poverty: Where Do We Belong?
- Eliminating your Debt Part 1
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Matt Goulart
Thanks for these very practical tips.
And if I may add, try to record your expenses ASAP. Sometimes, when you let days go by and delay the posting of these expenses, you may somehow forget which receipts go where. And in my case, I also use my cellphone in recording expenses as soon as they happen (eg. after buying things)
[Reply]
Great point! Recording your expenses ASAP is critical.
(wish I thought of that while writing)
Thanks for sharing
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