Budgeting When You Are BUSY: Free Spending Tracker

Budgeting…blech. Nobody likes to hear about…think about…or especially DO SOMETHING about their budget. It is like the long lost annoying cousin of our BFF Spendy. We all like Cousin Spendy…but nobody wants to invite Budget Boy to the party…am I right?? Well that was me too. I HATED thinking about my spending. I would just mindlessly swipe until half way through the month and then wonder where all of my money went. Then I would be super frugal for a couple of weeks until I got paid again…and the cycle continued. I HAD NO CLUE where I was spending it, or WHAT I was spending it on. I REALLY enjoyed the spending part…but the part where all the money was gone…NO BUENO!!!

So I finally decided to track my spending. I sat down and wrote down all of my debit purchases for the month (YES I could have printed out a statement, but our printer is ALWAYS out of ink…it is the bane of my existence). It wasn’t pretty and it WASN’T fun, but it WAS EYE OPENING!!! I think of myself as a pretty frugal spender. I do not buy fancy purses, wear expensive clothes, drop hundreds at a time, or have designer ANYTHING. I shop at GOODWILL and WALMART and I REALLY am NOT a wild spender. BUT the things I DID’T think about were those little pops into Walgreens for chapstick that ended up costing $60 because of the snacks, bottle of water, and magazine I would mindlessly purchase. Or those trips through the drive-thru for the kiddos when I didn’t want to make dinner. Or UGGHH, those subscriptions that I WAS NOT EVEN USING OR AWARE THAT I HAD!! It was a trip down a VERY sad memory lane.

I immediately decided to change to a cash envelope spending system (I will post about that soon)…no more swiping. And I continue to track my spending each month. It has helped me to figure out HOW much I am spending on certain items…like WHO knew how much I was spending on PETS?!?! And those are not even the giant vet bills. So far in less than a week of March I have already spent over $50 on pet supplies (cat food, bunny food, hay, and kitty litter). That money comes straight out of my grocery envelope. Having that knowledge will help me to better budget for groceries for both my family AND my pets. If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have estimated that I spent $50 in A MONTH on my pets…I had NO CLUE!!

After asking on my Instagram stories if anyone was interested in more info on my simple budget, I was a little shocked at how many people wanted help with their budget. Help from ME!! The girl who can go into Target for Shampoo and come out $200 poorer and without shampoo. I am NOT an expert, but I would love to share my journey along the way and hope bits and pieces may help others to finally feel more control over their money. NO matter how much (or little) you make, it seems most of us wish we had MORE money, RIGHT!?!?!

STEP ONE: TRACK YOUR SPENDING!!!

You can go back through your transactions from LAST month, or start fresh where you are, but IT IS NECESSARY!! It doesn’t take long and has HUGE benefits. I use my SPENDING TRACKER and get VERY specific with my spending. For example, I divided my Target trip into $36 for GROCERIES, $40 for PETS(how pathetic that I spent more on them than on US!!!), $14 on MEDICAL, and $5 on MISC. It took less than 5 minutes and held me accountable for my purchases. At the end of the month, I can look back and see EXACTLY what I spent my hard earned dollars on.

TIP: Target receipts are easy peasy because they are already divided into categories. For larger grocery trips or big box purchases, try loading items on the belt in categories. For example: load all of the household items together, then the groceries, then pet, etc. This will keep your receipt divided into categories. If you are using cash envelopes, this also helps determine which envelope to grab money from.

Once you know WHERE your money is going, it is MUCH easier to figure out how to budget. I will be working on a plan to cut my pet budget next month…they should NOT be eating better than ME…haha!! This step alone has changed my relationship with my money. I am MUCH more mindful of my spending and do less emotional spending and impulse buying now that I know how much those purchases are costing me. I have left the printable version blank so that you can focus on the categories that YOU are spending money in. Just print up the SPENDING TRACKER, start tracking those transactions, and figure out where your money is actually going…you might be surprised!! I hope this helps…I know it has been life-changing for me. I will be back soon to chat about how I am using this Spending Tracker to create a cash envelope spending system that is keeping me under budget. Happy Tracking:)

Don’t forget to pin this Spending Tracker to Pinterest for later.