Share how you track your spending

I want to start a discussion on how you track your spending. I believe that this is the only way to get back on track after a bankruptcy, and to get stronger.

I also think that it might be a help to some people who are here, and want to move forward.

I use an Excel spreadsheet that I wrote myself. It tracks income, spending, and allows me to allocate my income to each category. Every dollar is spent before I actually spend it! It is like an envelope budget system, only without the envelopes. The money exists in virtual accounts in my spreadsheet.

I spend all money with my debit card. I know that many say to pay cash, but I find the debit card to be better. I am extremely careful with my spending, knowing that I have to enter the money in my ledger, and account for it.

So, how do you track your spending? What has been your biggest challenge? What have you noticed is working better than you thought about this?

I am looking into the Mvelope system on-line. it is based on the system where people would convert paychecks into cash and allocate it into envelopes.

I am wondering about other ideas too so if anyone is willing to share that would be great.

I use Quickbooks, or a smaller version would be Quicken or Money. I like the reporting, P/L (you can apply this report to your life) and budgeting. I use online banking for payments.
My new policies for life and money: I have a savings account and an envelope :)

Nothing like emergency money to warm a heart :)

Mvelopes is supposed to be a good system. I did not try it, but I did read about it. It is all automatic for those who don't want to enter a bunch of stuff manually.

I love the account system (envelopes) for tracking money in sinking funds for expenses. It brings incredible calm to your life, to know that you are funding expenses now that will be due in three, six, or twelve months. You know the money will be there when the bill is due.

And, Brokenn, an emergency fund is one of the best security blankets out there!!!!

I use Quickbooks, or a smaller version would be Quicken or Money. I like the reporting, P/L (you can apply this report to your life) and budgeting. I use online banking for payments.
My new policies for life and money: I have a savings account and an envelope :)

Nothing like emergency money to warm a heart :)

I use QuickBooks too and it helps me tons. Right now it's setup to track expenses in the categories I needed to file for bankruptcy. I'll go back to a different method after the first of the year where each of my budgeted expenses is setup as a sub-account of my checking account and my paycheck will get divided among these based on my budget. In this regard it'll be like the envelope system without actually having cash in envelopes.

I use QuickBooks too and it helps me tons. Right now it's setup to track expenses in the categories I needed to file for bankruptcy. I'll go back to a different method after the first of the year where each of my budgeted expenses is setup as a sub-account of my checking account and my paycheck will get divided among these based on my budget. In this regard it'll be like the envelope system without actually having cash in envelopes.

Yea! I just did the same thing! I opened a new account to start fresh for the year! That is my celebration for the New Year.... this year's account gets pulled for taxes and archived :) Woo hoo!

And, Brokenn, an emergency fund is one of the best security blankets out there!!!!

Right on!! I learned that one here too. :)

I use good old fashioned pen and paper. If I have time, I also use the ruler to make columns and stuff. Other than that, there's nothing more to boast except how I still live in the stone age.... :aggress: (http://www.loanmodifyexpress.com/)

Mvelopes looks neat, but seems a little pricey. (its a subscription)

Dollar for Dollar and hassle for hassle, either Quicken or MS Money are the best options. Quickbooks is too robust for the average consumer and can have a high learning curve. If you already have Excel, you can use a spreadsheet, or you can download the OpenOffice.org suite and get a spread sheet application for free. But using Excel or any sort of spread sheet app can be daunting if you are not familar with how to use it.

For tracking spending, we simply put everything on a charge card, look at our statement every month online, copy & paste our spending to a spread sheet that has all our 'fixed' bills on it also (mortgage, car payment, utilities, etc.). The spreadsheet also contains our take-home pay.

We found this the best way to see where the money goes and make cutbacks. You can also see the difference from month-to-month.

If you don't have a charge card, use a debit card from your credit union or a pre-paid one from Walmart.

I've used Quicken for probably 10 years... just transitioned this weekend to YNAB - which stands for "You Need a Budget"! I admit to being a numbers geek... The software works on the premise of the zero based budget - completely awesome tool for setting up "sinking funds" for bills that get paid irregularly and saving up for purchases.

In my experience, Quicken is great for telling you where your money went - YNAB helps you tell your money where to go. I tried Mvelopes last year and had numerous issues with their service, although others swear by it.

I have used the envelope system for household cash for over a year and that really helped us decrease our spending - YNAB will allow you to account for cash envelopes as well as checking, savings etc. I was also able to set up the 3 debts that we are keeping and our FSA account and our 401k.

Cost-wise - it's 49.99 and upgrades are free, compared to Mvelopes monthly fees and Quicken which is higher to purchase, and also you end up being forced to upgrade at least every 3-4 years.

Conversion wise - when using Quicken I also maintained 6 spreadsheets to effectively plan and watch our money. With YNAB I was able to get rid of 5 of the spreadsheets. It probably took me about 15 hours to convert everything, but I went back 4 months and entered all my old transactions - so my YNAB will give me every detail on our money for the entire 6 month pre-filing period (filing in May).

I even went through all available receipts and broke out categories for food, HABA, cleaning/paper products, household items (microwave, sheets, towels, etc), books/mags etc. Super detailed budget (although you don't have to do that) so we know exactly how we spend our money. Did I say I'm a bit of a geek? :D

Btw - it may sound like it, but I don't work for YNAB :D I'm just really loving this software!

What's HABA?

Mvelopes is supposed to be a good system. I did not try it, but I did read about it. It is all automatic for those who don't want to enter a bunch of stuff manually.

I love the account system (envelopes) for tracking money in sinking funds for expenses. It brings incredible calm to your life, to know that you are funding expenses now that will be due in three, six, or twelve months. You know the money will be there when the bill is due.

And, Brokenn, an emergency fund is one of the best security blankets out there!!!!

whatever is Mvelopes?????

Where do you get YNAB?

HABA = health & beauty aids (shampoo, face wash, face creams, etc.) old couponing abbreviation! :D

Mvelopes is an online finance software that utilizes the enevolope system. There's another one out there that I recently looked at that's just called "Budget" if you can believe that!

You can find YNAB at their website www.youneedabudget.com - sorry mods if it's not ok to post that here!

Sorry, browser froze and posted twice!

Thanks. I will go and read all about it. :)

Crap, I have a lot of work to do! We have never had a budget before, we had credit cards! This is something that is completely new to me and I'll be honest, I am struggling. I have been beating myself up because we just can not stick to it. But I think it is because our budget was just too tight. But I was able to reduce one of my fixed expenses so this should help alot.

This weekend we decided that we were going to give my son $50 a month and that he is going to have to figure out how he wants to spend it (video rentals, skiing, snacks,) He has been trying so hard to work with us but he needs to be on a budget if I am going to stick to mine. When we were really struggling he asked for absolutely nothing, now that we are starting to get back on our feet I feel like he is asking for too much. It has been difficult to strike a balance with him. And this is where my budget falls apart every month.

I am trying to figure out how much of a % one spends on certain things.
Anyone have a clue?

how much on mortgage
how much on food
how much on gas
entertainment like movies
anyone have any suggestions?

Mortgage: the rules say 31% or less of gross monthly income, but realistically, that number should be less than 28%, and "ideally", less than 25%. A mortgage, after all is a liability, not an asset. You should be devoting as much money as possible to retirement (preferably into instruments that yeild tax free income at retirement age).
The era of buying your dream home and living off of social security are over, you need to make a bit of a sacrifice when it comes to housing to insure your not destitute come retirement.
Food: this number is too variable as it depends on family size, which is unrelated to income. The USDA puts out an interesting report on food cost and what a family of "x" size "should" spend. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm
Gas: again, too variable as it depends on family size, age of kids, and location.
Entertainment: $100-$200, but again, family size plays a role.

I keep it pretty simple. I have envelopes, an excel spreadsheet on my laptop and my best tool my bank's website and online bill pay. I don't have time to over complicate my budgeting. I want something that works for me, and I can take care of quickly, and this system works for me. I keep all my input and output on the spreadsheet, track credits and debits online, use the envelopes for things like gas, groceries, extra curricular, etc.

There is a website called http://www.mint.com that is pretty neat. My brother in law uses it and I would like to, but they don't support my credit union.

I use a program calld money manager ex to track my expenses and to track my savings and checking account. It's a really great program for my needs. I'm still learning how to really utilize it's features.