In general, I only track the money that comes out of my accounts. For example, I write down that I got 20 bucks out of the ATM machine, but I don’t write down what I bought with the $20 bill. I wonder if I need to be more specific. Do I need to start tracking every penny I spend? I’m thinking about doing an experiment for a week where I write everything down. If I can actually keep it up, then I might try to extend it for a whole month. Once I do that I may be able to disern a pattern of wasting money that I can stop. Maybe I can start getting better deals or stop buying something because it’s not worth the money I’m spending on it.

I’m going to start this weekend. I’m going to try to see if I can track every penny that I spend on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll go buy a little book on Saturday, and then write down that I bought a little book. I’ll try to report back on Monday how it went, and if I found it easy or not. I’m also going to try to work up a excel spreadsheet to help me analyze what I do, and I’ll try to remember to share that as well.

My steps for tracking every penny I spend:
1. buy a little notebook that can fit in my back pocket
2. (obviously) write down every single penny that comes in and out of my pocket
3. transfer notes into a spreadsheet
4. do some graphs to see where my money is exactly going
5. after seeing where my money is going, examine how I can spend my money more wisely.

keep steppin!

Filed under: blogging, budget, money