How to Log Spending

maryb

I still use Microsoft Money. It doesn't connect directly to the bank from inside the program any more BUT a lot of banks (except for Nationwide grr) will allow you to download your statement in QIF or OFX format onto your own computer. You can then import this into Microosft Money tada!! Credit cards don't always come with QIF/OFX format statements but Nat West and LLoyds group do. I download new transactions every day (the file is tiny) and enter pending transactions manually.

I don't use the budgeting tool because it is irritating when dealing with once a year expenses. It basically divides your budget in 12 and when you put the annual expense through, shows you as having massively overshot your budget for the month. Even if that is after 11 months of unused budget.

What I do find useful is to do a cash flow forecast by entering transactions with a future date. So I have already entered all January's bills and one-offs and put in notional amounts for supermarket and petrol spends. I can then see what my balance will be at the end of January

I would imagine something like this could be used for variable income unless it really is so variable you have no idea what you will get. Just enter estimated income with a future date and change it to actual figures when it lands in your account. Then you will see how your future balance will change and if you will have enough in your account to meet estimated outgoings

Hope this helps. I swear by MS Money. It's what keeps me using a Windows PC rather than switching to Mac

GreyQueen

I have an A4 diary each year with a page at the back for each month, one side is expenditures and the other income.



Expenditures are; rent, service charges, council tax, ISP, landline phone, and housekeeping. Periodically, water bill and gas & electricity.



Receipts for housekeeping (which includes non-food household consumables/ cleaning products) are put in a clip and totalled at month's end before being added to the diary page.


Other spends have a category, common ones in mine are alternative healthcare, clothing, homemaking, gifts, transport. At month's end, I tick down the 20-30 things I bought and then add them to a category. Categories are totalled and added to the rent etc and that total is deducted from the income. The goal is always to have a surplus and I might have one montho of deficit every 5 years.


If I feel like it, I add the categories into a simple self-designed Excel spreadsheet then play around with autosum and percentages. If it's a rainy day, I might even make a pie chart with the data, but then I'm sad like that.:rotfl:


Been doing this since 1997 and find it very helpful to know where the money goes.


As a tip, I'd keep a very close rein on food and drink consumed outside the home, this is a shocking drain that you simply don't see happening unless you start keeping your numbers.

Squiggly_Diddly

I use (on my laptop) a similar program to MSMoney - it’s called MoneyManager. I spent some time initially inputting every outgoing & incoming transaction (salary & d/d’s) (but once a month is done you can ‘duplicate’ the transaction and just change the date. I set myself an allowance for groceries/personal spending for the month. I have recently got myself a Revolut card which I now transfer that amount onto, as I can see on the app on my phone exactly what I’ve spent on that and it means I am not then swiping my debit card & losing track.
I often have this budget info set up for 9-12 months in advance as it helps me see my financial situation across a period of time which I find really useful.

baggins11

I am honestly blown away by how good at this you all are! Lots of you have different approaches but you have developed them to work for you. I feel embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get in control of my finances. I dread to think how much money we have wasted as a family over the years!!

Thank you for opening my eyes to all the options and I am sure I will find an approach to tracking my money that works for me (and who knows I might even be able to pay a little extra into the mortgage this year!)

newlywed

Another vote for Ynab here. I have never ever used any sort of spreadsheet, notebook or app for more than 2 weeks and it rarely ever balanced against my account.

I have used ynab for 6 weeks now and the only money i lost track of is £1.24 cash. Every week I am amazed that it balances with my bank balance. I have it on my android phone, on my iPad and can log into a pc or laptop too. So now I have very little excuse not to track it all.

In four weeks I turned round from a monthly ever increasing overdraft to paying off nearly £200 of the overdraft. So happily paid out £65 for a subscription.

I have always been rubbish with budgeting and tracking, but so far this is a complete turn around.

I did have to watch some Nick True videos on u tube to get the full, hang of it though.


Honestly though, whatever method you decide on, I think it’s consistency that is the real key. To keep on tracking all of it, all the time.

SteveeeP

I use MoneyDashboard web and app, connects with you banks and you can tag spending to give you an overview. You can then do budgets to reflect with these tags. There’s also a planner to show account long term.

WWDug

For years I been using Quicken it covers everything bank accounts, credit card, mortgage, tax etc you can set up numerous accounts.
But you would need one of the older versions 2004 was the last UK version. I have seen them on eBay rally cheap. I'm running 2012 version updated to 2016 and just change the $ for £.

kazmeister

I use MoneyPoint that I downloaded for free on Windows 10. You can set up multiple accounts, you can set budgets and it will track against your spending, you can standing orders to enter automatically and you can reconcile accounts.
I set up Cash accounts too and although it sounds really old fashioned, in order to cut spending I go to the bank and take the cash out each month. I literally have a pot for Food/Household, one for Fuel, etc. For things that crop up every few months like my hair appointments (expensive luxury) I put money away each month and get my hair done when there is enough in the pot. On MoneyPoint I transfer money from the bank account to each 'pot' account I have set up and then divide it out into how weekly amounts. It really does help you rein it in until it is under control. I do carry cards for emergencies but on the whole, it has really worked for me.

ETA I get receipts for everything I can and update MP each week accounting for every penny, then take out the next weeks cash from my pots into my purse. I'm out of work at the moment and this has really helped me get everything in order

lfctom

Hi everyone - my first reply here.
I have built an application which i've been using myself for around a year. I seen this thread and thought it would be interesting to see what other people thought of it, as it helps foreward plan/forecast my bank balance. It came off the back of struggling with finances when we moved into our first home.
I would appreciate any feedback you have - let me know whether you'd like to take a look!
Thanks, Tom

oceandreamer

I really wanted to cut down what I spent on food shopping so I started taking the cash out at the beginning of the week and keeping that and only that in my purse. I have a spending app on my phone that I just use for food shopping. Its really easy to remember as I always have my phone with me and just pop the amount in as soon as I get out of the shop. One thing that I realised was that I was a bit jittery once there wasn't much money left - even though I had done the food shopping and shouldn't need anything else. In the past I would definitely have had to get some more cash out 'just in case'.