Track Your Expenses With Pen and Paper
There are plenty of budgeting apps, but finding what you like can be a bit of trial and error. And if you’re trying to spend less time in front of the screen, sometimes the last thing you need to do is open your budget app to check.
May I offer you this paper and pen? This is possibly the best budget tracking solution you have tried since …
insofar as…
I don’t know, the time you learned to balance in your checkbook at Junior Achievement. Let’s move on.
How to track your purchases
I have tried two types of accounting:
1. Monthly audit. I record every purchase I make during the month. This includes my rental receipt, automatic write-offs of my internet bill, groceries, and everything else, right down to the pack of chewing gum. At the end of the month, I put all these expenses in a table by category (analog versus digital, you all) to check if my budget matches my actual expenses.
2. Always audit. It needs a better name, but this is the method I use when I just want to keep a close eye on my spending. I usually carry a paper planner with me, so I jot down purchases on the go. If I want to analyze my expenses later, I have a breakdown by day; if not, it’s just a diary.
I have found this method especially helpful when I am looking at my credit or debit account and see a position that I simply cannot place. Don’t you hate when companies have a vendor code that doesn’t match the company name on the sign? Your ledger knows exactly where you’ve been, whether you’ve been on the road or surfing the World Wide Web.
No artistic skills required, I promise
Don’t get hung up on beauty as you write this book. The important parts are the date, place and amount of the purchase. If you want to add spice, color-coded, or aspects of the magazine , it’s okay. But the ledger needs to be fast and simple, so don’t let style hold you back from keeping simple records.
Use a special pocket notebook if you like, or jot down your purchases in a paper planner as I usually do.
I have terrible handwriting, but I can quickly look through my planner to see when and where I spent what.
When I did my monthly audit last year, I used a legal tablet. At the end of every day I rustled all my checks
The magazine is a no-judgment zone. Sometimes you need to have some margaritas and chips with your colleagues. It’s okay if you write it down, whether you used cash, credit, or Venmo.
What you can find out by manually tracking expenses
The biggest benefit I’ve found from keeping an expense log is that it allows me to put my budget to the test. You can be confident in your budget when you create it, but you feel that you are not sure if it really suits your needs.
One area where journaling helped me adjust my budget was spending on pets. The last time I changed my budget (I check it carefully every year), I figured out how much it costs for food, bedding, flea control, and annual vet visits for my two cats. But my recent paper magazine helped me understand how much it really costs to keep these critters living the luxurious small-town life: I needed a lot more space in my budget for this category.
Sometimes I look back and say, “Wow, I can’t believe I spent so much at XYZ. Maybe I won’t do this anymore. ” But more often, in hindsight, I reflect on the day-to-day purchases I make and how best to plan my budget to accommodate them.
The app could do the job for me. But when I take the time to do it myself, I find that I am more mindful of my finances in general, rather than just crossing items off my money to-do list.