How do you all track your spending?

FireWyrm

tinateaspoon wrote: »

I've been using a really old (2000) version of Quicken on laptop XP, which won't load onto my new(er) desktop W7 - shame as I like it. I don't want a program that needs access to my bank and most of the ones mentioned seem to, besides a spreadsheet does anyone have any other suggestions?

Not really. I've googled a few open source money managers but they seem to be mostly American orientated. A spreadsheet coupled with a piggy bank approach and analysis of QIF downloads in Excel seems to work fine for me. I wanted simplicity but flexibility and unfortunately, there will always be differing opinions on how to manage finances - so, no one method will ever suit most people..

beehi

Hi,
I notice you mentioned you were looking for an app.
Well I use an app on my iPhone called Trail Wallet. It's actually designed for backpacking on a budget but the categories can be changed to any title you like eg Gas Cable Postage Water Mobile etc. I'm currently using it to track my spending and budget while I am travelling (cleared my debts 7 years ago and then saved every penny I could, i managed to budget well and save enough money that I have been travelling the world for ten months now).
The app has really helped. It's so quick to type in amounts I spend daily. It can be set to GBP not foreign currency. I am planning to use it when I finally return to the uk for tracking my household budget too. It gives a pie chart to show where most money goes, which then helps to see which areas i should try to cut back on.
Only difference to what you requested is that you tell the app your monthly budget and it adds up, it doesn't subtract from the original pot. But that's a simple calculation to make, you just look at how much you've spent and minus from the monthly budget figure, both figures are on the screen so it's easy to see. Have a look online at voyagetravelapps dot com. Or just google Trail Wallet. Might be useful to you. Well done for clearing your debts, great weight gone!

Indout96

If you have a Windows 8 phone there is a brilliant app called "COOL MONEY" which is free to download and whilst you can use it "out of the box" is also extremly customisable with seperate tiles for lots of accounts. You can delete these or create new ones at will.
you just tap the tile, enter the amount and a note of what it was actually for and save.
It automatically then adds these in to daily / weekly / monthly and yearly pages.
It does not seem to be available on Android (hateful system) not sure about Iphone apps.

(Off topic but)
Whilst I am normally not a windows person (far prefer Apple) I will be without a works phone when I leave my job and whilst I get one with the new job it will be after the 3 months trial. So I got an entry level Nokia Lumia 520 - it is the best phone I have ever used (way better than my Samsung Galaxy works one now) I am even thinking of going back to Microsoft for our new desktop after using Windows 8 on the phone.

Bublin1

FireWyrm
I mentioned it before but I think we are budgeting twins. I do pretty much the same as you. Thank you for typing it all out in detail for others to understand because I'm abit too lazy to!

I would like to point out that the budget I have now has evolved in the last couple of years. I think some people read advice like yours and see it as overwhelming but it isn't if you do it in stages......
Work out your spending categories
How much do you have to put into those categories.
Which categories need online accounts and which need an envelope at home
Open up a couple of accounts at a time. I eventually want all of mine with the same bank. With Natwest you can see all your accounts on 1 page and can swap money about instantly. With their App is even easier.

An example of how multiple online accounts work.....
Today I went to homebase to buy some bulbs. My 'Household Repairs' account is an online savings account. I use my debit card (called 'Spending Account'. I only use this current account if I have to use my card) and spend £4.99. I walked out the shop, sat in my car, logged into my NatWest App and transfered £4.99 from my Household a/c to my Spending a/c.

Cash envelopes......I have 2 children and I was always being caught out by the small spends......school trips that require a £5 contribution, school photos, discos, cake sales etc etc. I have now added a new envelope just for that which I put £10 a month into. It's great because when I hear, 'Mum, I need £2 to buy donuts after school', I can now say, 'No problem', go to the envelope and take out what I need.

With cash envelopes I would recommend that you sit down and work out the demoninations you want in each and go to the bank with that breakdown at the beginning of the month. Ie for that school envelope I want £10 in it but ask the bank teller for 1x£5 note and 5x£1 coins. I used to feel silly asking for £300 in specific notes and coins but the tellers really don't care. I then get a real kick out of sitting down and stuffing my envelopes for the month.

kreativ

Hey Peace,

As much as I love the idea of using apps on phone/tablets, I feel it's an insecure and short-term way of budgeting.

Me and my parter have been budgeting from nearly 4 years now and we've been very successful in managing our incomings and outgoings from the bank.
So successful, we can tell exactly how much was our monthly spending 4 years back compared to today. We've built 3 properties in the last 4 years by keeping a close eye on our expenses. And this is despite only one of us working for 1 of these 4 years. The total income was near about yours.

How? We used Microsoft Excel to do that. We started off with two files - one for income/savings, and other one for expenses/outgoings.
Every one or two months, we used to open our credit/debit cards online accounts/paper statements and copied all the entries into the expense sheet. We wrote every spending into this book - right from cash withdrawals to loan spendings. At the end of year, we used to create new sheet for current year and review all the previous expenses.
This really helped a lot in understanding in which area we may be over-spending. For us, it was our shopping expenses we needed to cut out.

So my recommendation is to use spreadsheets to manage budget and expenses. Using apps is not a long term solution and apps are less customizable than spreadsheet. Also, with spreadsheet, you can backup in many places but with apps, this is not the case. If the app server (app vendor's end) crashes or is not available, your data will be lost/inaccessible.

Hope I am making sense and helping you.

PeacefulSlumber wrote: »

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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princess_pea

FireWyrm wrote: »

Just to update this thread...anyone who wants an excel spreadsheet for budgeting purposes can get a copy of one I created yesterday from here : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/58m07i0jklqny0e/n3c1E0QUVw

Let me know if you need any improvement or you want some new charts or changes.

I downloaded this yesterday and I think it will quite literally change my life. THANK YOU so much! :beer:

nikongirl

kreativ wrote: »

Also, with spreadsheet, you can backup in many places but with apps, this is not the case. If the app server (app vendor's end) crashes or is not available, your data will be lost/inaccessible.

Not necessarily the case, depending on the app. The one I use has a .csv export option as do many, many others.

I use Daily Budget in combination with a spreadsheet and it works very well for me. I email myself the csv once a month and back that up in a couple of other places as well.

ganderson1804

Does anykne have a good spreadsheet and use the piggy banking method? I track my piggy banks on a spreadsheet but it's very complicated and could do with being simplified.

FireWyrm

Ganderson1804 wrote: »

Does anykne have a good spreadsheet and use the piggy banking method? I track my piggy banks on a spreadsheet but it's very complicated and could do with being simplified.

See posts above...links there.

Avogirly

FireWyrm wrote: »

Just to update this thread...anyone who wants an excel spreadsheet for budgeting purposes can get a copy of one I created yesterday from here : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/58m07i0jklqny0e/n3c1E0QUVw

Let me know if you need any improvement or you want some new charts or changes.

Hi FireWyrm, hope you don't mind, I've just downloaded your budget spreadsheet. Can't wait to get cracking with it. Plus I am using the trial version of YNAB. Hoping to get as organised as you! Thanks very much.