Terrible at tracking my money!

Mr_Curious

Hi Guys,


I'm fortunate to know that I earn more than I spend. However I am terrible at keeping track of my spending. Do you guys have any hot tips to give me clarity on where my pennies are ending up? I have tried keeping a spending diary but I am terrible at remembering to put every purchase in which is far from ideal.


I have thought about opening an account with 'Starling Bank' and shifting a sum of money into it each month but that leads on to what would be a reasonable amount for a single guy for food/entertainment/clothes/everyday spending? (excluding direct debits/household bills etc)


Any advice or insight welcome.


Thank you,


Mr_C :beer:

Nebulous2

I've no spending diaries, no budgets and lots of bank accounts and credit cards.

I manage my money by keeping a good eye on expenditure, shopping around for utilities, phones, broadband etc and watching when deals end. I also use bank switching deals and regular savers to try and get some interest on my money.

I keep a spreadsheet with all my balances and update it once a month to see what movement there has been in the net cash value over the month.

There is no right and wrong way however. People here will all have different ways of managing their money. What works for us wont necessarily work for you.

trailingspouse

Step one is to write a list of all your regular outgoings - you need to know a total for the year, but also month-by month so you know when the 'biggies' are due. This will be things like mortgage/rent, car tax, insurance, MOT, gas and electric, council tax, etc etc etc.

For the rest, buy as much as possible using a debit or credit card, even the small stuff - then when the statement arrives, you've basically got your figure for your monthly expenditure. If the amount comes as a shock, then you need to go through it and work out where you can make savings (if you need to. Most of us need to).

Over time you can work out how much you spend on food, clothes, entertainment and so on on average - and decide if that's too much.

Head over to the Debt Free Wanabee and Old Style Moneysaving boards for ways to save money, if you decide that's what you need to do.

colsten

Mr_Curious wrote: »

what would be a reasonable amount for a single guy for food/entertainment/clothes/everyday spending? (excluding direct debits/household bills etc)

How much is reasonable for you to spend is your decision, and yours alone. Some other single blokes will be spending more than you, some will be spending less. It's not a contest, it's a personal decision. You could set yourself a fixed sum of money, put that into an account separate from your normal current account (e.g. into Starling but better still somewhere that pays you interest) and spend no more than that fixed sum on yourself. Don't feel compelled to spend every last penny of it, either.

May I ask, are you satisfied that you

1. have emergency savings, e.g. 6 months worth of net income, in case you have an unexpected spend, or are unlucky enough to lose your job
2. are paying enough into a pension and/or LISA
3. are keeping your surplus money in an interest-paying account(s)?

Mr_Curious

Thanks for your input so far guys. I'm aware everyone has a different situation and idea on things. I'm just looking for ideas really.


Colsten - Yep, I have a safety cushion in interest baring accounts. I am paying 10% into pension, company is matching this. Any surplus cash is also in interest baring accounts and helping to feed a couple of reg savers so all is dandy on that front.


Its more a case of clarity as to where the money I am spending is ending up.


I'll just not that I have a list of DD payments and dates already lined up so good advice there

Keeping_Motivated

I have 3 accounts..so when I get paid I transfer into all 3...so one for bills where direct debits and standing orders flow out of all month. One for savings and one for spending only.

I use a credit card just for petrol and that gets paid off (via an already set up direct debit) in full monthly so I know exactly how much petrol Im using.

I use a different credit card just for food/takeaways/trips to the shop for junk food etc and again that gets paid off in full every month but I can then easily see what I spend on food and adjust accordingly if I'm shocked haha

After that its easy to see what I'm spending from my spends account because no bills, food or petrol come out of that account and again I can adjust accordingly if I think I'm spending too much on clothes or social life etc

I did try apps that track spending etc but like you I stopped updating them or forgot so I find this the simplest systems for me.

System

[QUOTE=Nebulous2;74754474]I've no spending diaries, no budgets and lots of bank accounts and credit cards.

I manage my money by keeping a good eye on expenditure, shopping around for utilities, phones, broadband etc and watching when deals end. I also use bank switching deals and regular savers to try and get some interest on my money.

I keep a spreadsheet with all my balances and update it once a month to see what movement there has been in the net cash value over the month.

There is no right and wrong way however. People here will all have different ways of managing their money. What works for us wont necessarily work for you.[/QUOTE]


I agree with this method, as this is what I do also.

System

Keeping_Motivated wrote: »

I have 3 accounts..so when I get paid I transfer into all 3...so one for bills where direct debits and standing orders flow out of all month. One for savings and one for spending only.

I use a credit card just for petrol and that gets paid off (via an already set up direct debit) in full monthly so I know exactly how much petrol Im using.

I use a different credit card just for food/takeaways/trips to the shop for junk food etc and again that gets paid off in full every month but I can then easily see what I spend on food and adjust accordingly if I'm shocked haha

After that its easy to see what I'm spending from my spends account because no bills, food or petrol come out of that account and again I can adjust accordingly if I think I'm spending too much on clothes or social life etc

I did try apps that track spending etc but like you I stopped updating them or forgot so I find this the simplest systems for me.

Good method also. I do something similar.

Terry_Towelling

You already know the answer because you have identified the problem in the title of your thread.

You need to stop being terrible at tracking your money and I suspect you are more than capable of doing this - even if only by using a pen and paper. You just need a bit of discipline because whatever method you use (pen/paper, spreadsheet, MS money etc) you will still have to remember to make a note of what you spend and when/where.

If you aren't able to exercise the discipline in the first place, then no tracking/recording system is going to make any difference because it won't have the correct information in it.

No_6

MS Money
Enter all your income and spends, it's a simply spread sheet.

WE ie ME now run 39 active accounts on it, C.cards ,bank, saving
etc

down side.... only on pc or lappy but if you want to look after ALL your
accounts......simple,,,, buy one and forget your mobile...use it for phoning....not banking unless you have only ONE account.


or maybe 2 as you are on this site

Emily_Joy

Mr_Curious wrote: »

I'm fortunate to know that I earn more than I spend. However I am terrible at keeping track of my spending. Do you guys have any hot tips to give me clarity on where my pennies are ending up? I have tried keeping a spending diary but I am terrible at remembering to put every purchase in which is far from ideal.

Not a tip, just a simple question: what do you need to track your spending for?

In other words, do you feel you spend more than you should be doing? Or do you feel you should save more? What is your ultimate goal?

I print a calendar for a month on A3 paper and write down all DD and SO to be taken that month when the bills come in. I have fixed amount of cash in a wallet which I spend at local farms and markets on weekly shopping. Everything else is done online and can be found from CC bills, which I check once a month.