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?

I look at what's there after wages have gone in and credit card payments have been made, if its healthy I transfer a bit to ad hoc savings. I try to keep a buffer in my personal and joint account but I know if its getting tight. My big thing is to keep the weekly food shopping down, because if I can shave £20 off that, that's £80 more a month. Also I am trying to add crap I want to buy to my amazon wishlist to buy at the end of the month (by which time I probably won't want it). (I tend to buy books at Blackwells now though, I just use amazon to list them. Delivery from Blackwells takes an age though).

I don't need a spreadsheet as online banking lists every transaction. I used to spend a fortune on petrol so it was useful to know if a Sainsbury's or Tesco spend was food or groceries but I now use petrol so rarely that I definitely notice it! I know I'm spending less in lockdown, I'll be happy to be able to spend more!

I don't track my spending at all.
I am not a spender by nature, "stuff " gives me little pleasure.
I always look around for the best deals on car insurance, electricity etc.

So keeping track of my spending would be pointless. I only spend on essentials and save money that I don't need.
I am realistic, and I know I can afford to buy nuritious food and treat my children, but I am never tempted to spend money on fancy handbags or Starbucks coffee.

Yes, I've always done this - mainly for fun, right from secondary school days. I like to keep track of things and a bit of predictability in life keeps me sane. It's helped me the few times I really needed to keep things in check and I've never been in debt (Not even credit card).

In personal/home life, I don't track every single thing but because I have a general mental knowledge of what's coming and going and access to accounts if needed, I always have an idea of what I can or can't do/what I need or don't.

Other than that, it's just a way of keeping things organised for my own sanity. Our weekly spend can differ each week depending on what we do.

Business-wise, I have to track it all for official purposes.

No. My attitude to money is ridiculously cavalier.

I have a notebook that i write all my credit card transactions in with a running total, i check it online about once or twice a month in case i forget something. I have another book for my bank transactions so i always know how much i have and how much i will owe whenthe cc statement is due.

I've kept pretty meticulous accounts for a while now, but although it's interesting to see how much you spend on stuff, it hasn't really changed our habits. I think doing it for a year or so gives you enough data!

I use an app - Fudget - and can track all my spending. I love it at the end of the month when I can see how much I’ve not spent and can transfer to my savings account.

I'm old school so use a notebook. Every payday i paycredit card bill transfer out savings to various accounts including any money that was left in acc. Deduct any debits and standing orders from the amount left and make a note, I then deduct any purchase I've made and won't spend more. So at the end of the month the credit card money is already there. Have done this for years.

Everything is paid by direct debit so spread out over the year. Also have a lump sum going into a second account each month to pay for Christmas and holidays. Look at bank statement each month to check the situation and reduce holiday fund for a couple of months if we’ve had an expensive month.

Yes I track our spending. It really helps us to not waste money. In the last 4 years I have reslly improved our finsncisl position. Not automatically renewing house/car/pet insurance etc and looking for the best deals on these and broadband and tv &energy helps pay for our holidays.

@Meowchickameowmeow

No. My attitude to money is ridiculously cavalier.

It doesn't matter how cavalier or parsimonious you are, you can still only spend it once!

Yep I track my spending. After each food/household shop I record the amount and add it up each month. It fluctuates as I like to challenge myself to save money from the food budget. This surplus gets saved for other weeks.

I also look at the overall budget broken down into weekly and monthly budgets, plus I have written plans for the next 3 years for saving and spending.

I make sure all fixed bills and food do not exceed £700pm.
Cashback gives an extra £300 per year whilst eBay reselling unwanted/ unneeded items gives around £200 per month.

The budget includes all yearly paid items like mot, insurance, boiler service etc. Each month, 1/12th is sent to the relevant named account : car, leisure, home, emergency etc.

I live on a low income but never scrabble around. Everything is allocated, saved for or not needed.

The ebay money gets spent on ebay or on my kids but its circular flowing in and out, I feel lucky this way.

Keeping a close eye on money is well worth it.

I have done in the past but monthly rather than weekly. Monthly gives a better overview.

I know what all our outgoings are and I track for renewal of insurance etc but I don't track our other spending as we save a lot and don't need to control our spending really.

I have done in the past when I was on Mat leave for example and didn't have the income I do now.

I generally know what we have in the bank though and monitor via my app for fraud or hacking more than anything else.

No. I don't really see the point as there's no pattern to it. Bills and purchases don't come up at evenly spaced intervals. One month we might not spend much at all apart from on groceries and the next month we might pay for a holiday/expensive items/multiple birthday presents/bills etc. I'm generally very organised and sensible with money though.

No. I have from time to time before a significant spend (first car, first mortgage) to plan a budget, but once the budget is set I don't track spending, just check balances every so often to make sure there's no surprises, and bung money into an ISA before the annual cutoff each year. If we decide to buy a bigger house or downsize my job, we'll do the same again until the new budget is bedded in.

Pretty much everything is spent either through direct debits or a (cashback, fully paid each month) credit card so it's easy to see what's gone where.

I don’t track it at all, that would just be another thing on the to do list that I don’t have time for.

On payday I move a decent amount into savings account, and put enough to cover bills, mortgage and childcare into a separate account. Then whatever is left I can spend from so dont really need to track it, I just need to keep an eye on the balance.

Now I don't as we are now at a time of our lives when we wouldn't go overdrawn if I unexpectedly spent £15 here or there without budgeting for it.
For the first 25 yrs of adult life, I used to write everything that came out of the bank account down, in a notebook, so I knew what was in there on a day by day basis. (This was pre computers and spreadsheets of course - I'm sure I'd do it on a spreadsheet if I needed to now).

I track manually using a book, following ideas from The Budget Mom website/YouTube. It’s made me focus more

We have savings pots for person spending, Xmas, presents, annual bills, clothes, holidays etc. Then I have a separate current account where I pay in my weekly "housekeeping" money for food and and extras. Anything left at the end of the month is saved. It works well for us as I can keep track without the hassle of a massive spreadsheet etc.

I don’t, even though I’m an accountant. Years ago I made a spreadsheet of the outgoings for the month and we pay half each into the joint account. Dp and I aren’t spenders by nature and check the account frequently for unexpected bills and that’s it.
When I first started work and had very little pocket money I did have to write every penny down. I know we’re fortunate not to need to now.

I just check my online banking to ensure no fraud or massive purchases, but I’m fortunate not to need to check it to the penny, which I know is not the reality for everyone.

It’s one of my favourite things to do despite being comfortable financially.