How do you all track your spending?

PeacefulSlumber · 19 March 2014 at 11:35PM

Hello everyone

I'm new here, not totally, I've been lurking for a while but now feel like joining in. I'm not quite a debt free wanabee, more like a debt survivor/recoverer.

My story is that my husband and I have just crawled out from underneath crippling unsecured debt of just over £40k and a secured loan of almost £10k. We were irresponsible, reckless, plagued with bad luck and downright stupid for most of our twenties. Then we had two children and grew up!

We knew we had to change and had had enough of living like paupers so we took a tough but sensible decision to sell our house and downsize. We had enough equity to clear our debts in full and put a decent chunk of money away for the future.

My husband and I both work and bring home £3400 a month between us. We
save most of my husbands salary now so we are putting away £1500 per month into savings.

After childcare, bills, mortgage, fuel etc we have approximately £500 left to pay for food, clothes, entertainment and other ad hoc expenses.

I am getting round to asking a question, honest!

This probably sounds stupid but I am terrified of how to budget this pot of housekeeping money and how to keep track of it. I know from reading other peoples posts that my budget is generous so I should have no problem shopping for 4, buying nappies and paying for all the other bits and pieces we need but I'm hopeless at remembering what I've spent.

The notebook idea doesn't appeal, does anyone use an app on their smartphone to track spending? I have tried loads but none are quite right and most are too complicated. I just want one that is a simple expenses log that deducts from the overall amount I start with. Can anyone recommend anything?

I'd add to this that I cannot get into debt again, no overdraft, no credit cards in my purse and I just don't have any desire to go there again. I just want to be able to manage my budget without running out of cash before payday and having to dip into the money we are saving.

I also want to say how helpful reading all your advice was when we were up to our necks in it. We got out of our personal hell with the advice you were all offering to each other and I am so grateful.

Good luck to everyone still fighting the fight!

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thecassman86 · 20 March 2014 at 8:34AM

Hey :wave:

Firstly, congrats on clearing all of those debts - that's impressive, i bet you're so glad to have it all gone!

The "spending diary" idea that you mentioned is definitely the most popular here; but i understand why it's not ideal for everyone... I'm not sure of any apps that do it but i'm pretty certain that they exist... If they don't i'd make one (i'm a developer!).

Anyway, another idea that seems to work is if you know you have £500 this month then draw it out of the bank as cash and split it equally into 4 envelopes - one for each week of the month... Then simply don't use your card again that month. Everything you have available to spend is as cash in envelopes.

tizerbelle · 20 March 2014 at 8:41AM

Honestly the best £30-odd I spent last year was on YNAB http://www.youneedabudget.com

You don't just track your expenses but you plan your budget for all the different categories of spending as well. Its a virtual envelope budgeting system.

It synchs with your smart phones (both yours and hubby's) so whenever you are planning to spend anything you can check you have enough in that category.

Occassionally its on offer on Steam for much less but I'd have paid 3x what I did.

xJOJOx_2 · 20 March 2014 at 9:06AM

I've just found a very simple app called Iexpense. It's free, I found it searching for spending diary x

FireWyrm · 20 March 2014 at 9:37AM

£500 a month is easy. £250 for food, £200 for clothes and £50 for odds and ends. Put each of those into a separate basic account (no overdraft, no credit) and keep track using the various smartphone apps that each bank offers. For the wider implications of your budget, YNAB is by far my favourite offering but you can do virtually the same thing with Excel if you really wanted to save the £30.

This is called piggy-banking, or envelope banking and it really works. I have separate bank accounts for different purposes just like this. If I want to buy clothes for the children, I use the red card (santander), if I want to buy food it is the purple card (natwest), entertainment (lloyds) and petrol is RBS.

YNAB gives you the overview of HOW you want to portion your money - your budget and the above method makes sure you can keep track of what you spend. I dont know what my net worth is, and dont care, because my only concern is - do I have enough money in the relevant pot for what I want to do. If the answer is no, then it doesnt happen.

getmore4less · 20 March 2014 at 9:57AM

MS money is a free has loads of features to budget(plan) and track and manage accounts.

I am not a fan of integrated downloads of data(except shares), manual inputting is quick, most can be automated and makes you reflect on the spends.

thecassman86 · 20 March 2014 at 10:00AM

FireWyrm, i like the idea of multiple accounts! Especially ones that you can't go overdrawn on so can never go wrong.

Just out of interest:

FireWyrm wrote: »

I dont know what my net worth is, and dont care, because my only concern is - do I have enough money in the relevant pot for what I want to do. If the answer is no, then it doesnt happen.

Does this mean that if in 1 month you only spend £200 on food, you don't re-allocate the remaining £50 to one of the other cards? I.e. spend £250 on clothes? Just curious. Your system is really neat.

skitler · 20 March 2014 at 10:01AM

my empty wallet stops me spending.

SailorSam · 20 March 2014 at 10:03AM

I've got a simple spreadsheet and as much as possible i always ask for receipts for anything i buy, otherwise try to make a note until you can write it up.
It's interesting to see and compare the figues year on year.

rostyit · 20 March 2014 at 10:11AM

Hi PeacefulSlumber

My Wife and I have been trying out a couple of budget planners and each time come back to a spreadsheet that I made and put on GoogleDrive.

All of our monthly spending is done on a joint credit card (paid off monthly of course

). WHenever my wife or I spend anything on the credit card we update the spreadsheet immediately, or, if this is not practical we keep hold of the receipts and do it later at home.

This seems to be the most lightweight solution we have found (we can update the spreadsheet using our smartphone/ipad/computer) , it syncs us both up automatically and best of all is free.

The spreadsheet will automatically add to the total spent each month and will calculate what the total left for the month is. At the start of the month I reset the spreadsheet and off we go again...

If you are interested I will get a copy of the spreadsheet we use so that it is shared. It really is very simple and can be adapted however you like.

Downsides: You really have to make sure that you remember to put all your spending in there (like any spending diary/planner I suppose). However, if I have a busy day/weekend and forget a couple then I can always jump onto the CreditCard website and enter any 'lost' transactions.

Have a good day

Dave

FinanciallyUnsavvy · 20 March 2014 at 10:11AM

I second what everyone has said about YNAB. It's working wonders for me.

Simple tracking of what you spend is all well and good - but you can do this by looking at your bank statements really. The trouble with this is it doesn't tell you what you need the remaining money to do; you know you've got £100 left, but what you've forgotten is out of that £100 you've got a meal out with family, 2 birthday presents to buy, the kids need new school shoes... etc.

YNAB's ethos is "give every penny a job" - basically you budget your monthly spend into categories so you know exactly how much you have to spend on each thing, and you budget for the unexpected, so you never find yourself short.

£30 is quite a lot when there's plenty of free alternatives out there, but it's worth it. I got mine on sale from Steam for around £7 in January - it may be worth keeping an eye out for another sale.

The main application is on your PC, but there's a perfect and simple app that instantly syncs - the app does exactly what you need, just tells you how much you've spent and how much you have left in each category.

More importantly - massive congratulations on getting yourself out of debt. What an amazing achievement. And now to be able to save £1500 a month - incredible. Well done you, inspirational! x

How do you all track your spending?

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