do you track your spending?

[aericell]

do you use apps, spreadsheets, notebooks, etc to manage your budget or track your spending?

i’ve been using the 50/30/20 rule to distribute my pay each month, where 50% of my check goes to my needs, 30% goes to my wants, and 20% goes into savings. i made a spreadsheet that autocalculates each category for me, especially so i know how much i can put towards my wants. if i make a purchase online or through my cards, i record it under each category with the date, store/item, and amount. i also have it set up to calculate how much i’ve actually spent and how much i have left. i don’t track cash transactions, but i do record if i withdraw cash out of an atm

 

[OswinOswald]

I used to manually enter every transaction with an app on my phone. I'm a sucker for cataloguing things! But then as we became more cashless in society, my credit card starting tracking it, so then for a while I would still go inand fiddle with how those got categorized and take join tracking my spending in various categories... But now that I'm older and my habits are pretty clear, I don't track anymore because it takes a little too much time and I don't really change my spending habits because of it.

 

[Kitsuragi]

no,,.., but i should and probably will. i use apps for it, i guess, but its not precise.

 

[IonicKarma]

Not really, I kinda just live by the philosophy of buying basically nothing unless I really need/want it, which kinda just works out

 

[duckvely]

i do not but i know i should. i want to get better at saving my money

 

[Snowesque]

When actively buying, yes.

 

[Midoriya]

Yeah, I keep tabs on it when I need to.

 

[Soigne]

i've been looking for ways to start doing this... really, i go weeks without buying anything other than absolute necessities and saving everything that i don't have to spend and then i go wild and spend that money. not perfect but i'm also not spending beyond my means ever? but it also does make me nervous.

 

[Cirice]

I've been holding a budget since 2020 now and tracking my spending is one of my weird hobbies. Tracking them, assigning income into fun categories, watching my saving grows... I'm a real budget nerd.

 

[JellyBeans]

i don't track my personal spending in any particular way (other than don't run out of money), but for the last three years (going into my fourth now) i've tracked all my uni spending to be within a budget! fortunately i've managed to stick to it pretty well so i know what i can afford to spend each week and the income i'll need to do that. not sure how rigorously i'll track my spending beyond uni though

 

[Aniko]

No, I think it will just stress me out but I do keep my money separated, money to pay the bills, money for the dentist, money for the drugstore. Money for snacks and entertainment is restricted.

 

[mewp0ka]

yes. depending on the circumstances, it's easy for me to lose track and i end up spending more than what i originally agreed to spend. it's not a common problem for me, but i like to do it regardless.

 

[Jhine7]

Yes I do! Probably a little too closely, but it's definitely helpful knowing what's happening and for savings sake.

 

[~Kilza~]

I don't track my spending, but since I don't buy too many things to begin with, I've never really felt the need to track it, since I have a general idea of how much money I have at any given time.

 

[Sarah3]

Sometimes if I make a bunch of big purchases in a short amount of time, but not always. I probably should though.

 

[Coach]

Not really! I usually check on it occasionally and transfer a round amount that I know I won't utilise day to day into savings. That system normally works for me.

 

[Neb]

I still live with my parents at the moment because of my executive functioning issues from my autism and I'm not paying rent, so the money I get from my job is used towards whatever I want. I save some over time towards larger purchases and the rest I use on whatever I feel like at the moment. Since the way I use it is so straightforward I don't track any of it with a planner or app. This setup is obviously temporary. Once I live on my own I definitely will use a spreadsheet or something to keep myself organized and budget accordingly.

 

[moonbyu]

no, although i probably should

 

[deana]

I don't track my spending all the time but once in a while I will do a month long spend tracking to make sure I am spending appropriately. How I do it is I just write down at the end of every day how much I spent and then add it all up, maybe give myself a little sticker on the days I don't spend any money at all. I'm already pretty good at not buying much but just the act of tracking it makes me spend less.

 

[Aerith]

Not really, at least, not in a very active way. I pay attention to what goes in and out of my bank account and what I put on cards, and I'll adjust my spending as needed. I do want to start saving more, but it's not easily possible with the job I have now.