To ask do you track your spending weekly, monthly or at all??

[biibbiibobby]

Posting here for traffic...(money matters is very quiet!
I tracked my money this week. And in total I spent about 370. It's a bit more than normal I think and more than I planned but anyway...I will aim to reduce next week I think!
250 of the weekly spend was my electricity bill of 110, fuel for my car 55 (which is still half full) and my bin charges 26.50 and food shopping for the week. (Had some bits at home already so it wasn't a full food shop!) although I have only bought milk and bread to top up.
So I spent 120 on random purchases , including a Chinese, lunches in work, two movies for the dc that weren't available on Netflix (8.99 each), 35 on a HUGE bag of kitty litter...etc so most of it was justifiable I suppose.

I thought it was a good activity to do and I might do it again next week. Do you do this? What's your average weekly spend? Do you track your spending?

[Sprockerdilerock]

Yes I have an enormous spreadsheet where I track and categorise all my expenditure as well as forecast future months

I get quite excited when I update it. In my defence I work in finance

[biibbiibobby]

@Sprockerdilerock wow! That sounds very organised!! Well done!

[1990shopefulftm]

We have a family spreadsheet to track everything, we re clearing debt whilst I m on mat leave so making sure we know where every penny is going.

[EachBleachBlairTrump]

I have a spreadsheet into which I have input all monthly bills, it has some formulae embedded, so each month I enter at the top how much DH and I got paid (fluctuates due to unsocial hours payments), it then minuses all bills, outgoings and savings for us and separate savings for DS, monthly spending for DS, then divides whatever is left in two and that's what DH and I get for fun spends each for the month

[EachBleachBlairTrump]

DH says he thinks it's a little OTT as we are comfortable and don't need to watch the pennies , but I heard him discussing it with his dad in a very positive way

[Hagqueen]

I monitor my bank account.

I’ve scheduled all my direct debits for the first 7 days after payday and as I am paying off a credit card - I am disciplined about paying of a set amount in that first week too. Reminder is for food/petrol/other but I am doing my best to be frugal. I always aim to have another good chunk for the credit card by the end of the month too, although its not too rigid - I aim for £300
remaining but if something crops up so be it, I’ve already made the big payment earlier in the month- I work a zero based budget roughly, so any money left over the evening before payday goes immediately into either debt or emergency fund.

Any additional income - I am currently ebaying a lot - I add directly to debt or I keep to sort of use for any things I need that can be paid via Paypal.

I did try a spreadsheet, but it felt excessive. I only have one stream of income normally (the ebaying is not excessive amounts of money once postage and fees is out!) and I keep my outgoings to a minimum so I can tackle my debt (I’ve around £4100 left!) and I found I just didn’t need it.

[MiaowMiaow99]

I do this, and check about twice a week. On pay day I scoop away all savings and dd monies into seperate accounts, so what is left is just spends for DH and I. For example, if that amount was 1,000 I'd break it down to 250 a week and track we were on target to do this.
I find it helps maintain thought and considered spending as it avoids a boom or bust over the month. (Loaded for first 2 weeks and skint for last 2)

[Kotbullar]

We move everything into different accounts and I check the balances regularly but that's it.

[Spidey66]

Kind of, in that I check my online account most days. Especially due to the pandemic I use my debit card or Apple Pay for about 95% of my spending so I know where most of it is going that way.

[FredaFlintstone]

£110 electric was surely a months worth though? So it's not really your 'true' weekly spend.

I use Monzo...i cannot express just how much I love it, it has completely changed (for the better) the way we handle our money.

All money comes in and gets spread into different bills pots, savings to savings pots etc. It really helps you clearly see where all your money goes.

We 'pay ourselves' a set amount each Friday to our current account...and once that's gone, its gone. If we blow too much on a Tuesday meal out or other unnecessary things (in normal times) then we eat beans until Friday.

It seems slighly ridiculous to be 'skint' at the end of the week when there's actually still plenty in the bank... but it only ever happens if we make a poor decision that week. Its our motivation to not be dicks with our cash 😂

[peboh]

We don't really. I've tried to keep track of it in the past, but always end up forgetting to note half of the spending down. We're financially comfortable, so it's not a big deal for us right now.

[GordonsAliveAndEatsPies]

Yes I know where everything goes - but then I know how much we need to save towards investments, house projects and the like up until 23/24.

[LeroyJenkinssss]

Like some others I have a massive spreadsheet that I update regularly (three or four times a week). It has formula that work out how much of petrol/food/fun money is left. It rounds up direct debits and then the extra goes to paying off credit card. That and our Monzo card has really improved our money management.

[Negnog]

My friend was training to be a CAP money advisor years ago and used me to practice on! I have a spreadsheet with our main bills account just showing what comes in and goes out for DDs and we only use that account for that. The spreadsheet logs how much we transfer out to spending accounts and savings but I don’t really track that once it’s in there. I only look at the spreadsheet when something such as a big bill like the mortgage changes just to make sure that the amount we leave in there is still the right amount. I have recently downloaded Moneyhub though and the analysis is really interesting.

[Oysterbabe]

I don't track mine at all. I don't live an extravagant life (even before covid) and have enough to do the things I want and save a bit.

[OooErrThor]

I also have a spreadsheet which I update regularly.

Daily, monthly and yearly spending is noted as is pensions etc

I also work in finance so it's just really an extension of my job really.

[biibbiibobby]

@FredaFlintstone yes it's a monthly bill so not reflective in terms of weekly . But I was just trying to track what was going out this week really.

[GOODCAT]

I don't now but used to. Instead all bills go out quite quickly after pay day.

I then figure out what I have to spend the rest of the month so petrol for example, I guesstimate some for presents and in normal times some for socialising. I then put the rest into savings. However, I have a balance in my bank account that I treat as zero so that if there is an emergency spend there is cash available without going overdrawn. Then next pay day I recalculate again.

I am more of a saver than spender so it works for me. I used to watch every penny and checked it every week and went through my statements line by line, but I don't have to be quite so frugal now and anyway banking on my phone means I can easily check my balance. However, frugal habits have stuck.

[MissMarpleDarling]

I don't track mine atall. I know I have enough for essential living which is all I really spend out on.

[EileenGC]

Yes, I track everything. Expenses are tracked weekly, monthly, 3 or 6-monthly.

Most of the things you mention (bills, bin charge, fuel, cat litter and movies) I calculate monthly. Otherwise my weekly spending would vary all the time and I’d hate that. Fixed bills are paid on the 25th. Last day of the month I make a quick list of that month’s income (varies each time). I transfer tithe and offerings to my church (proportional to my income), check that the credit card bill went through on the 26th.

1st of the month I transfer £200 to my spending bank account. Netflix, Spotify and Prime all go out on the 1st too.
I’m currently living alone and I aim to spend no more than £35-40 a week on groceries, toiletries, takeaway. Realistically I spend £50. I keep a spare £100 in my main bank account that could be transferred to my spending account towards the end of the month if I finished the £200. If there’s money left over, I will transfer less next month, only to make up the shortfall to £200.

I have a monthly budget for Amazon random orders, work materials and other leisure activities. TV and Radio tax (compulsory where I live) is paid every 3 months. I have a clothes, hairdresser, etc 3-monthly budget. Transport ticket every 6 months.

The trick for me was to have set days of the month/year when different expenses went out. That’s 25th for rent and bills, 26th for credit card, 30th for ‘end of month payments’ and 1st of the new months for shopping budget and fixed entertainment costs. It took one day of going through all the websites and changing the ‘next payment date’ but it was so worth it.

I monitor both bank accounts several times a week and check how much shopping money I still have left each Monday. It might sound very complex but it takes almost no time and works perfectly for me.

[NewYearNewTwatName]

I use to. it was broken down to weekly, then monthly. Money went into one bills account which I could chart and see right down to how much would in any given day of a month, then standing orders set up weekly and monthly going into household spending account, and savings accounts.

it was all hand written. I use to love sitting down and doing it.

But life got in the way in not a good way and I relinquished control to DH (who's crap with money) things weren't great financially for a while. But we are comfortable at the mo, though I think we probably haemorrhage money in places. But I've never been able to bring myself back to taking over the finances again.

I really need to, maybe this thread is the kick up the bum I need.

I use to work in accounts too.

[NewYearNewTwatName]

oh it was the same for household account too, everything had a set budget. unexpected large Bill's would come out of the emergency saving account.

[MrsL2016]

I do track what I spend but I keep everything very separate so I wouldn't be counting bills etc as weekly spending just because it happened to go out of my account that week if that makes sense? We have a joint account for all house bills and food/fuel. Personal accounts are for our own bills like mobile phone and personal debt repayments and finally fun money. That's the bit I track because once it's gone that's it until next payday (monthly). Monzo is good for that because it uses my previous spending to predict how much I will or won't have left at the end of the month. I'm a student again and get termly bursaries and weekly agency pay, but I still allocate myself a monthly 'salary' as it is just easier to manage that way and matches how my DH gets paid.

[gwenneh]

I've used the same budget spreadsheet to track bi-weekly and monthly spending for at least 15 years. It's the only reason we have any savings. DH just lets me get on with it because when HE did it, we didn't HAVE any savings!

We have several different bank accounts -- for personal spending, for bills, for savings for holidays/treats and for savings for bigger things. Money comes in, gets divided up, and bills paid. It sounds very much like the "Monzo" approach!

[NeverWillIEver]

I've never tracked mine and don't really understand why I should ?? I know where it goes and can look at my bank app.