An Idea on How to Keep Better Track of Costs
In order to have a perfect budget and make it work really well, it is ideal to keep track of all expenses and income. Here are a few ideas on how to more easily keep track expenses.
There are several methods that people use to track expenses, some very refined, some rather loose. The better budget is, of course, going to be that which is most refined. In order to keep it refined, there are some easy ways to track these expenses. It doesn’t have to be difficult. And once the system is set up, it’s rather easy to keep going – pretty much forever!
Some people will take an entire category of entertainment and lump everything that is done under that category together. They won’t know if they are spending money on movies, eating out, billiards, beer, or whatever. It’s better to track the types of expense, and exactly what it was that was bought than to simply categorise like this. An easy way of doing this is to keep a small note pad, one that will fit in a shirt or pants pocket, with you at all times. This way it’s very simple to write down what was bought. I use this every day and always have the pad with me. An added advantage to this is that I can also use the pad to write myself notes that will help make my day more efficient, such as when I remember that I need a specific grocery item (I keep a running list in the pad for the bi-weekly shopping trip). And I use the pad for writing down ideas. For example, I tend to have about a week’s worth of blog post / article ideas written in the pad. This really helps keep me organized! And then I never forget anything.
When I do my weekly budget update I simply take the pad and input the numbers that are in there into my spreadsheet to see if I am keeping within the limits I have set myself. I rarely go over in any category any more, but that is because I have my budget down to such a science from the past 18 months of doing it this way that it’s easy to know exactly how much I have available in each category. Oh, another tip with the little pad is that I actually keep a list of how much I have to spend in each category. For example, my next grocery trip is limited to $200. I also track how much each item costs that I am buying, so that I can compare to the next grocery store or trip that I take to this one. I also know how much I can spend on entertainment, auto expenses, and so-forth.
And my pad also helps me to keep track of upcoming expenses that I otherwise would have forgotten about in my budget, such as the upcoming maintenance that I am going to have to do on my car – and it’s a pain to deal with that if you forget! Gotta watch that transmission fluid.
Oh, just to be clear, I work from both sides of the pad, just to make it easier to know where I am and what I’m doing. Give it a try! I would bet it helps.
