Tracking Expenses & Your New Expenses Tracker
- Viola Ivanovic
- Jan 25
- 2 min read
Tracking your own expenses and staying on top of your personal finances can be a daunting task.
You may not know where to start and how to do it. If you research it online, you may get many results, good and bad results. Some of them may be confusing, difficult to navigate or complex to use. Let me help with all of that.
As one of the goals I have set for myself this year is to track my own expenses very carefully. Nothing clears out the confusion better than when you have your problem clearly organized and written on paper, or maybe in an excel sheet.
Through out January I have been using a very simple calendar. Each day, I would write how much money I have spend next to that day's date and what have I spent that money on. It was actually quite simple.
This morning I set down to just sum it up and see how it all went.
What I can tell you about my month is that I haven't exaggerated with my basic expenses. I was actually quite good this month. I did have a small travel adventure at the beginning of the month and an unexpected expense that made my savings for this month very small, but all in all, wasn't that bad. And, I will try to make it better in February.
When we look at our finances we usually all have three major groups: - Basic living expenses: Rent/Mortgage, Utilities and Daily life expenses (groceries, dining outside, laundry detergent and so on) - Shopping and Other enjoyment costs or Unexpected cost (car repairs and similar problems) - Savings.
I advise you to look at your finances through these three groups.
There is an excel sheet, a basic, simple one, that I have created and use, that can help you track your expenses. I have inserted three basic formulas. Of course, you can change it, so that it suits your life and your needs.
I personally like to separate my basic expenses from shopping and put a specific amount for each area that I shouldn't go over. And if I do go over, that is a red alarm and things need to be adjusted.
The "Other + Reason" section is for shopping and unexpected expenses. It is good to have a why there because after a few months when maybe you want to afford something and it becomes difficult to do so, you can see exactly why it became so, and where your money went.
Now all that is left for you to do is write down your expenses and see where you stand.
You can download the template here.
And if there is anything unclear, you can always let me know.
Hope it helps.
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