Tracking your expenses is one way to identify your spending and know where it’s going. Although it may seem like a tedious process, doing so guarantees that you’ll know where your money goes so that you can become more aware of your purchasing habits.
There are several ways to help you manage your expenditures. Besides using a written ledger, budgeting software allows you to keep track of your expenses no matter where you are. Here are a few more ways to help you monitor your monthly costs.
Ways to monitor your expenses
Record your daily costs
If you want to start managing your finances the right way, then it’s best to start with tracking your money daily. Aside from creating a ledger, tracking your expenses throughout the day can help you understand how you use your money and where it goes.
By arranging your expenses into categories and especially noticing which are based on habit and which seem ad-hoc. You need to keep tabs on your running total so that you’ll know how much you’ve already spent for each type. Now, deduct your total expenditures to your monthly earnings and record the answer. It’s a practical way of understanding your daily purchasing habits.
Meanwhile, if you have a partner, you can sit down and review how much both of you spent each day. A budget can encourage you both to be mindful of your spending habits and maybe create some friendly savings rivalry. Rather than create one monthly budget, you might find it easier to create a weekly budget for routine spending and a monthly budget for the ad-hoc spending.
Be mindful of your limits
Once you notice that you’re nearing your spending limit, maybe you should stop what you’re doing and think about it before buying the next item. Remember that it’s vital that you do everything that you can to stick to your budgets. Although there may be times when you’ll find that your budget is unrealistic, it’s always essential to take your time and wait until the end of the month to adjust your next month’s weekly, or monthly budget. Additionally, remember that building your savings and paying off your debt are more important than uber eats or more clothes.
Learn how to allocate your money
For those who aren’t comfortable paying their bills each month, you can create a special account just for the bills, with no card access. One general rule is to allocate as much money as you can for your savings so you can build up your emergency fund if ever you need one in the future. For utility bills that vary each month, you may want to roll the balance in the bills account towards the next month to even out the monthly costs.
Use technology
Another way to help you manage your bills and budget is by using expense tracker apps that you can install on your mobile devices. Expense tracking systems have come a long way since they first came out in 1983. Now, they’re available on both web and mobile devices, which you can use anywhere you go. To help you decide which app you should get, here are some of the best expense tracker apps in the market today.
Best expense tracker apps
Personal Capital
If you’re the type of person who wants to plan finances carefully, complete with visuals, such as charts and graphs, Personal Capital can be a good choice. It’s an expense tracker system that provides users with access to a free personal finance dashboard to understand their financial health.
Personal Capital has an automatic tracking feature that allows you to categorize all the expenses that you make on your financial accounts. From there, the system formulates a chart so you can quickly view your cash flow whilst allowing you to separate them into categories. In this manner, you can further understand your spending habits.
QuickBooks
For those who run a small business, managing both your business and personal expenses can be exhausting. Fortunately, QuickBooks allows you to work both in a single app. With only a single device, you can easily understand what’s going on with your business and keep track of your personal financial finances.
QuickBooks also comes in various versions and editions, depending on what you need. Although it still has room for improvement, it’s still the best option for business and contract management, expense tracking and payroll in a single app.
Clarity Money
Clarity Money is an excellent financial app that offers both online and mobile versions. This app has a user-friendly design, and it can support various accounts. Clarity Money also features in-app analysis that highlights your account activity, including savings, spending and even subscriptions.
One feature that makes this app stand out from the rest is its ability to track your spending each month and compare it to your target monthly income. You can easily see your spending at top merchants in a few taps. Clarity Money has also track features to monitor your credit score.
Wally
Wally is a mobile app that lets you check your expenditure by using AI to synchronize with your financial accounts. The Wally app centres around your monthly expenses whilst providing you with feedback and other information that you might find helpful.
In addition to money management information, this spending tracker also has its social feature. You can easily share the breakdown of your monthly utility bill with someone so that you can effectively manage your expenses.
Money Manager
Money Manager merges money and psychology to help you stay on the budget you set. This app recommends having separate physical bank accounts for bills, everyday spending and for saving for your future, for holiday expenses and more. Also, Money Manager can let you have a tailored solution based on your spending habits and current financial situation.
Why do you need to monitor your expenses?
For many people, financial management is a constant struggle. Tracking finances is the best way to control it. Here are a few reasons why you need to start monitoring your expenses now.
1. You’ll have a better idea of your spending habits.
Most people are often clueless about how they spend their money. After all, it’s so easy to lose yourself when you walk through a store full of clothes, gadgets and many more. You can quickly spend money without giving it a second thought. When you monitor your expenses, you’ll know which area you spend unnecessarily or where you should cut back on expenses. With this, you’ll also eventually realize how to fix any spending issue you may discover.
2. You’ll build a stronger connection with your partner.
Money is one of the most common reasons why couples fight. It’s only natural for two people to have different views about saving and spending. However, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t discuss it.
Getting rid of the factors that trigger your stress demands open communication. Monitoring your finances will help you make a healthy discussion with your spouse. When you come to an agreement about your financial goals as a couple, you can then review your spending decisions and see what could have been improved.
3. You’ll have better control of your impulse buying.
Spending impulsively is fine when it happens rarely. Nevertheless, when you do it frequently, it can ruin your budget. Before you decide to buy anything, it’s always best to think about it a couple of times before paying for it.
To help you avoid spending impulsively more than usual, tracking the things that you bought will be helpful. In the long run, you’ll be more mindful of your behaviour and would even help you formulate ways that won’t cause you to spend lavishly.
Tracking your expenses allows you to assess your buying habits effectively so you can manage your financial goals. In addition to learning how to allocate your budget, it can also help your money grow.
If you need help with money management, we, at Golden Eggs, can help you get a tailored solution with our Money Manager app, or your very own money coach. Get in touch with us today.