Do you use a program? write it down? Keep all receipts? I am always curious how each person tracks their spending.

I haven't buckled down and tracked in the past year. It's truly shameful. I'm starting to do this again and am excited to see where the money is going.

I truly feel this is much like my weightloss. I didn't think I was snacking all that much, but the little things really added up once I was really tracking them.

I do know we are very careful with money already, but I KNOW there are areas that money is just being spent that could be saved or used somewhere else.

I have a journal that I just purchased that I plan on keeping track in. I use to do this, but kinda slack over the past couple of years. I liked having it written down and in front of me so I could check it often. It helped me to really keep track and if I needed to make changes I could see immediately where.

When we moved here, I slacked off.

2004 is definitely going to change that!!!

I have a daily planner that I am planning on using to jot down expenses for each day andthen total up my expenses in each category at the end of the month, so I can see where our money is going.

Categories would be:
~car repairs
~eating out
~gas
~entertainments (movies, rentals, etc.)
~utilities
and others. I am sure you get the idea.

I have a notebook with tabbed pages for a ton of categories, I'm tracking every single little penny this year that gets spent. I also have categories for savings so I can keep track of how much my effort saves us with coupons, store cards, money saved by buying sale items instead of regular cost, rebates, etc. I want to see if my efforts are really making that much difference.

This past year I kept all grocery receipts and last night I figured out that I saved us $1,076.13 by using my Kroger card buying sale items and using coupons. Not too shabby :) So I want to really track everything this year and see how everything adds up.
I just have to make myself set down for a few minutes every day and update my notebook.

We use Quicken- and tabulate our spending at least weekly from receipts.

I'm also going to use a notebook for daily tracking- so I don't lose the occasional .25 on a pack of gum or the $1.00 for a soda in the machine.

Very carefully. I usually keep a small notepad in my pocket book so I see what needs to be paid and as I have that money I pay it and at the end of the month depending on whats left I go buy something for me (book, clothing...etc) or me and DH (Playstation2 game, DVD or Movie)

We use quickbooks and run reports off of that often. I need to use a notebook for daily expenditures however. I will make that a priority. I know we have some leaks.

I just write it down in the checkbook. I don't keep track of the cash we spend. Only checks or debit card transactions. I would probably save us lots of money if I kept up with everything that we spent.

Since we basically charge everything, we use Microsoft Money. It tracks our checkbook which we use to pay all bills and then we itemize our credit card bills so we know exactly where it all goes. We don't pay cash for anything, except if we go get pizza on a Friday night or breakfast on the diner on a Saturday. I just spent the entire morning here updating Microsoft Money. Feeling very good about it!

I've got a notebook too.

I'm not very clever at tracking things on the computer and as I want to track literally EVERY penny, I need something I can carry with me.

I'm also going to keep all my receipts, the supermarkets list what you have actually bought on the receipts so I'm going to staple them in my notebook as a reference and also to see what food I'm buying.

I'm also going to keep my present buying list in it, so I can get things in the sales when I see them.

I am debating right now between a binder type thing and a regular notebook to track everyday spending. I also want to start a binder for the household notebook. I will be tracking everything in Ms Money if I can get it figured out.

I keep track in a 3 ring binder that is divided into catergories. I also need to start keeping track in a small notebook in my purse. DH thinks doing that is a LAME idea, but I think he will begin to come around soon!!

Kendra- your dh will be amazed at how easy it is for money to be frittered away. Keeping track of every penny is the best way for me to stay afloat.
BTW- glad to see you posting here, I've missed you since BF folded.

Sunshine,

THANKS for missing you!! Glad to be here posting!! This is an EXCELLENT board!!

I think that DH doesn't want to track the penny by penny spending because then he will actually have to face reality that he is really bad at wasting the money! He will buy so many things that are not necessary and totally waste even $1. He just doesn't get it! I am hoping he will agree to do this for at least a month to see the light!

I use our checkbook and also keep a running tally of our grocery bills here at the village.

I use a detailed Excel spreadsheet.

dh uses Quicken. We've been using it for 9 or 10 years, many versions now. It's quite useful. the reports it generates are pretty good, showing what went where.

We moved to online banking a while back, and use InterAc now so most of the payments are electronic and Quicken tracks them for us.