by Hope
Ok, how do you track your spending? I’ve got my budget and my tracking spreadsheet for totals. However, keeping that updated with day to day spending is not going to work. Do you have an app you use? I want something super simple, like input the amount, the category it should be applied to, and then notes where needed. Then I want it to give me a total based on date range so I can plug that into my tracking spreadsheet.
Hit me with your ideas.
I originally planned to update my tracking spreadsheet every week, but that’s just not sustainable and I know I won’t stick to it. I’ve used Quicken, Quickbooks, etc. in the distant past, but don’t want that either. I want something hyper easy, available on my phone, with some good options for exporting or reporting. Then I can export the data as wanted/needed, and manipulate in Excel.
May, 2025 doesn’t count
This month was all over the place with enormous amounts of money coming in with the house sale, crazy amounts of debt paid off, the costs associated with the move to Texas, broken computer, a mess with the mortgage company, hearing aids failing, Princess’ graduation and family week. I’m going to do a summary post. But I can’t put all that in my tracking spreadsheet because it skews everything, ie the credit card line item everyone brought up in my budget.
So all the extraneous spending and income will not be put into my spreadsheet for this month. I’m going to put my budgeted items and what was applied or deducted from those. Does that make sense?
Then going forward, everything will be standard.
Oh, and have I got a story for you about the house sale. Coming soon…just a teaser, the house sold (closed) on May 8th. The loan was closed out by my mortgage company today (May 31st). It has been a really stressful couple of weeks. More on that next week.
I am ready for a new slate, a new month…let’s go June!
Hope is a resourceful and solutions-driven business manager who has spent nearly two decades helping clients streamline their operations and grow their businesses through project management, digital marketing, and tech expertise. Recently transitioning from her role as a single mom of five foster/adoptive children to an empty nester, Hope is navigating the emotional and practical challenges of redefining her life while maintaining her determination to regain financial control and eliminate debt.
Living in a cozy small town in northeast Georgia with her three dogs, Hope cherishes the serenity of the mountains over the bustle of the beach. Though her kids are now finding their footing in the world—pursuing education, careers, and independence—she remains deeply committed to supporting them in this next chapter, even as she faces the bittersweet tug of letting go.
Since joining the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015, Hope has candidly shared her journey of financial ups and downs. Now, with a renewed focus and a clear path ahead, she’s ready to tackle her finances with the same passion and perseverance that she’s brought to her life and career. Through her writing, she continues to inspire others to confront their own financial challenges and strive for a brighter future.
I’m a little confused, as this makes it sound like you’ve never tracked day to day spending? This makes more sense why your “forecast” vs what actually happens and your constant credit card bills make a lot more sense
Did you spend money? Then it “counts”.
It really is that simple. Just because you have an unexpected expense doesn’t mean you can just go “well that doesn’t count in my budget”
It always counts.
I’ve used YNAB for years and love it. It helped my husband and I pay off our student loans and buy a car in cash. It was especially helpful when our income was irregular and we needed to make sure to put aside enough in the fat months to live on in the lean ones.
But May 2025 absolutely does count. Sure, it’s an outlier, but all that stuff actually happened and should be reflected in the account of your spending. You need to learn to live in reality, not in your forecasts.
Vigorously disagree with this idea: “So all the extraneous spending and income will not be put into my spreadsheet for this month. ”
You NEED to include these costs, you spent the money and can’t just wish them away. And you need this information so you can look at it in December and use this ACTUAL data to budget for 2026.
Most of these you can allocate the costs to existing line items. (Yes, you’ll have gone way over on some. Own it, don’t avoid it.):
– the costs associated with the move to Texas (allocate to Travel, Auto etc).
– replacement or repair of broken computer goes to Technology or similar line
– graduation and family week gets allocated to Dining, Entertainment and Gifts.
– hearing aids repair/replace – goes to Medical, or (maybe) go to a new line called Durable Medical or similar
– anything truly one-time can go to Misc, if you account for it transparently.
And finally, you hold yourself accountable by tracking a Balance Sheet monthly:
— ASSETS: how much of the $51K is left in the bank. other savings + investment accounts if you wish.
— LIABILITIES: what’s the student loan balance, and what are the current (5/31) credit card balances. doesn’t matter if you’ll pay them off next month or not.
— NET WORTH (Assets minus Liabilities)
I hope this doesn’t sound too abrupt, because I’m rooting for you.
You either want to track your spending, or you don’t. If you do, all of the months count. Taking a good hard look at May is important to do, and it doesn’t skew the numbers. It’s what happened. And you need that bit of reality going forward. You are always so optimistic when you have a new plan, but your plans aren’t executed faithfully. There are always reasons to use the credit cards again. New whims to pursue that will change your life.
You need to include May for the full picture. If you give yourself another fake fresh start with this latest spreadsheet, you’re not learning from the past. Include all of the data and stick to your plan of tracking, no matter what. It will be illuminating, I think.
For super basic, use a spreadsheet and connect it to a pivot table or build a summary view with sum ifs. There used to be mint or personal capital that would connect, but those come and go.
For historical purposes, so to every credit card and bank account site you have and download the csvs for the transaction history. Download as much as they’ll let you, then slowly categorize your history. It’s okay for this to take some time.
For going forward, keep all your receipts and log every evening. Add a column to mark off when you see the transactions post to a credit card or bank account.
It’s essential to become very personal with every penny of spend, so work financial focus into your daily routine and note your feelings as you log the receipts. Was the spend worth it or do you feel like you’d rather have the cash back?
No Hope, none of that makes sense. May absolutely counts and definitely should be counted. When budgeting and tracking everything counts. That’s the whole point. You don’t get to have a blow out month and just not count it because you don’t want to see where you blew the money. And the easiest most effective way I’ve tracked spending is writing it down on a piece of paper every day. Category & amount.
I’ll recommend Monarch Money for tracking. It is free to use and made by the original creators of the Mint budgeting app.
Hope, tough love: you are still not getting it. There is no such thing as extraneous spending when you have a working budget, and every month counts. Hearing aids fail sometimes, family events happen sometimes. It all counts.
You are still conflating tracking, forecasting, and budgeting. Of course you can enter unexpected expenses in the tracking spreadsheet, in fact it is necessary to include everything in your tracking.
What you mean is, these expenses bust my budget. So what! Budgeting is a learning experience. Your budget should adapt to new situations and improve with every setback, because a budget is founded on your commitment to accountability.
You refusing to deal with the budget busting doesn’t change the eventual consequences of that spending. All this approach does is keep yourself in the dark (by your own choice), thus limiting your options for how to deal with higher-than-expected expenses and likely costing you much more in the end.
Wow. So you knew it was going to be a crazy month. Yet it appears you had no limits or tracking on what was going out? Now you’re just calling it a wash and starting fresh? Even if it is unexpected, like new computer or new hearing aids, you need to account for it so you can save for those type of things in the future. Computers don’t last forever, cars need maintenance, this is all part of a smart that actually works! If I recall you’ve have issues with hearing aids more than once over the years, this is valuable info because you can track how often something needs replacement and create appropriate sinking funds. I could tell you based off my tracking how often we need a new cell phone, so once we get to that point I add a placeholder amount to the next year’s budget. I’m going to guess you will have more family milestones in the future. You may move houses again, etc. Ignoring these one-offs is adding to your downfall.
I’m sorry but this is what you always do whenever you get an unexpected expense, new job, or large contract. You spend without limits while you’re riding that high. Then completely ignore what you spent and try to start over on some unrealistic, ultra low budget that you apparently aren’t even tracking. No wonder why your credit cards just balloon randomly for no reason.
There are several banks that have their own basic budgeting software for free. I would suggest you look to see if one of those available to you with what accounts you may already have. it looks like USAA has one, fidelity, credit karma (not a bank but still free). I suggest you use one that is pulling your transactions and accounts automatically for you. That way that you can’t omit spending either by accident or intentionally. Not going to lie, it is uncomfortable and sometimes regretful to go through and see the transactions and totals when you overspend. But that is what helps you think better about your money. I’ve been using one for over 10 years, with 10+ linked accounts, and they are very safe. It is the only way you’ll be able to be accountable. Most of these have the ability to export out transactions to a csv file if you want more manipulation on a longer timeline basis.
Consider the cash envelope method. The Faithful Dash does faith-based challenges every Friday and might resonate, here’s her latest budgeting/cash stuffing video: https://youtu.be/cv47ne7Bcf8
I don’t track my specific spending but I do three categories for 50/25/25. I also have three different accounts where I actually move money each month.
50%=mortgage, utilities, groceries, & fuel
25% = fun money (coffee, takeout, shopping, etc)
25%=savings/investing
Having to pull put a specific card to determine if what i’m buting is a need or fun helped me cut back on a lot of my impulsivity.
Hey Hope, if you’re looking for software, there are a few good ones.
1) YNAB
2) Every Dollar (This is Dave Ramsey’s product)
3) Lunch Money (I tried this one a while back, its good for digital nomads)
Thanks,
James
I used Mint and loved it before it shut down. Now I use Goodbudget. They have a free version, but I pay $10/month for the extra features, like unlimited envelopes/budget categories.
What have you used before, and why does it no longer work? Or have you not been tracking your expenses? That would explain the bare bones budgets that never seemed to add up.
If “May doesn’t count” because you don’t want to use the data for regular monthly expenses, that’s one thing, but you absolutely need to track where your money went in May. You got a big payday with the house, if you used that to splurge and treat yourself you need to face it and own it. Seeing your spending patterns will help you do better. If you don’t get a handle on this you are going to spend all the money from the house sale and have nothing to show for it. Paying off the credit cards should still have left you with a big nest egg, and if that is disappearing you need to know where the money is going.
oh gosh. This does not bode well at all. All money counts, every penny. You HAVE to make the time to enter it all in since you have ZERO sense of accountability for any of it. You are only helping two days a week, you clearly have a lot of spare time and should be spending some time each day to account for every penny.
Just start a spread sheet and put what you spend that day and give it a category. IE-gas in the car-AUTO, bought a sandwich and an apple for lunch-EATING OUT/ENTERTAINMENT, bought printer paper for work-WORK/OFFICE, dog food-PETS, also do for incoming $-got a rebate in the mail-MISC, paid by a one time contract-FLEX INCOME, paid by a long term contract-SET INCOME, found a $10 hill-MISC. Do this for the next few months while you live at your parents. Every single penny. And every penny has a category. Then at the end of this time frame-sort your categories and see what you spent, where you spent it, how much you spent. Then you can see what your true costs are, what your waste is, what your needs for sinking funds are. I agree with the above commenters, you have zero self control when money comes in, absolutely zero. I sure hope it isn’t all gone already, but I am suspicious is nearly is.
Tracking your spending is a habit you simply NEED to develop. Each time you spend money put in somewhere on an excel sheet. You should have monthly bills in one section and fill in the actual amount each month. Groceries in another section and add amount each time you come home from grocery store. Take out, restaurants in another column. Then other things need to be catagorgized- personal items (shampoo etc) unless you want to include in groceries. Clothing and shoes categories. Entertainment category other than monthly bills like Netflix. Etc Etc. I am kind of surprised that you don’t do this already. Just needs to be a daily habit. Lots of people do this so you can too!