A few weeks ago, I posted an entry on tracking every penny I spent. Now, I’ve got an update on how that is going.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to get to the point where I was consistently writing down every thing I spent money on. It’s pretty difficult to remember to write something down when you are in a rush to leave a restaurant or a store. So far, I’ve got three of my original steps down with about ten days worth of data in my spreadsheet. I’m hoping to continue this for a good thirty days, and then I’ll start analyzing where my money is going. I’ve already noticed some trends that I really need to stop. One of which is my soft drink habit at work, where I’m averaging three dollars a day!

Even though it took me a while to get started, I have come up with a system that I’ve used easily for ten days now. I keep a sheet of paper in my wallet. I’ve got that sheet of paper folded up so it fits in the wallet easily, and each fold represents one day. On each day/fold, I’m putting my to do list for the day starting at the top, and then at the bottom, I put every penny I spend. So far, this method is working out for me, and I find myself keping track of everything easier. Then, when I get the opportunity, I transfer the money I’ve spent from my wallet paper to a my excel spreadsheet.

Right now, this system is working out for me. I’m hoping I can continue to motivate myself to do this for 20 more days, so I have a total of 30 days worth of data. Hopefully by then, it will also become a habit, so I can continue tracking my money this way. At the 30 day mark, I’m going to analyze everything, and try to find some trends and some places where I can stop spending money.

Filed under: budget, finance, money