Do you or have you kept track of "every" penny spent?

[Clutterbug Jen]

I was just wondering if any of you have tried keeping track of every penny spent during a month's period of time.

And, if so - did that help to change your spending after that month was up?

I've tried doing this numerous times and did good at first but never made it through an entire month but am planning on trying again in April.

I am quite sure that all of the little things add up way more than I think that they do and am sure doing this would be a very enlightening experience.

~*Jen*~

[mombottoo]

I'm relatively new here at Frugal Village, so March is the 1st month I have tried to track every penny spent. So far I have been able to do it, but not without some problems. I was writing things on a piece of paper, lost the paper, started a new paper...but, then found the origianl paper...so I'm still good to go. For April I am going to keep a paper in my purse, because nothing ever gets lost in my purse. I also saved all of my receipts, since the receipts show what exactly was purchased.

I have found for me, the idea of having to write down purchases made me think twice and sometimes three times before I spent the money. So there were quite a few times I opted not to spend, which is a very good thing!!!

[Clutterbug Jen]

Wow, you must be good if nothing ever gets lost in your purse!

My purse is like a black hole ... once something's in there, I may never find it again. *lol*

~*Jen*~

[Marie78]

Last year when I was unemployed I began tracking every penny for a few months. I noticed that once I had it on paper I tried to make more thoughtful purchases with my budget in mind. It worked for me. I don't buy something because it catches my eye now. I'll only buy something after really thinking it through. That includes a bag of chips at the grocery store, a new pen or chapstick, a new shirt/pants. I plan for as many things as I can now within my budget. It has even helped me save money or at least save $ by keeping it in my hands and not the stores .

[DAAC3DEC]

I have logged every penny spent since last August--I have to say, sometimes a huge pain in the butt, but well worth it......no more, "where did it go"--and if I write it down I have to be accountable for it.

[COUNTRYBUMPKIN]

Dh and I both write down every penny spent. I must say that it really opened our eyes as to where the money was going. I am not so quick to open my wallet anymore. It is very helpful for us to keep track.

[peanut]

We do...or try to. We keep receipts, plus we write it down. Keeps us honest. We're usually out a few bucks, but we don't worry about it if it's under $10 or so. With the amount of money going through our hands a month, we consider ourselves doing good to only be out that much. This year we've been pleasantly surprised we end up with more money than we should. I'm wondering where the receipts are coming from! We're still shaking our heads over that one...

Jean

[Bethany]

I just started reading Your Money or your Life and I just started tracking every penny in a notebook I keep in my pocketbook and so far so good. Hopefully I'll keep up with it.

[kcsmom76]

We have been tracking our spending for about a year now. We love the way it has helped us see where our money is going. We have a notebook that has our budget written on one page and then the next page we use it to track spending.

We also take an envelope and write the month and year on it. Inside we put all the receipts from the month. That helps us know where the receipts are if we need to take something back.

We also took it a step further and have not used a debit card in almost 4 years. Those debit card purchases are what helped get us in the hole in the first place. We either have to write a check or go all the way to the bank and get the money. It makes us stop and think about what we are using the money for. For us, it was using the money to go out to eat. A lot of restaurants don't take checks so that has saved us lots of money.

[shoiji]

The first time I started keeping track of every penny was a real eye opener.

Now I do it basically out of necessity. It really does help me to stay on track. I keep a spreadsheet on the computer and put all receipts next to the computer each time I buy something. So everytime I go on the computer totals are put in the spreadsheet. It is just me here so not that difficult to do.

[ukbb]

I use quicken to track most of my expenses but I use Mastersoft Money on my pocket PC to track cash transactions.



I have 3 accounts set up for it.

Pocket Cash - My weekly allowance
Petty Cash - Any money left over from my weekly allowance gets transferred to Petty cash to be used instead of whipping the charge card out.
Change - Any change I have left at the end of the day gets transferred to change. When I get a full roll I use that for whatever money.

It's nice that I can get a chart and see that I spend way too much on dining out and that my grocery budget is running roughly $100 per month.

Before I got the pocket pc I had a spreadsheet on my pc that I used to track
this. But with the pocket pc it is with me when I make the purchase so I can enter it before I forget about it.

UKBB

[yankeegal]

I keep track by writing things down and keeping every receipt-no matter how small the amount. It can be a real eye-opener.

[Athena31]

I must admit I don't track every penny, but maybe I will start just to see where everything is going.

[Clutterbug Jen]

Wow, thanks for all of the replies!

Now I can't wait until Tuesday [the 1st] to get started with tracking everything.

Since I'll probably keep everything on paper, I had an idea this morning ...

I think that when I'm tracking everything, when I get home I'll go over it all and then any silly and totally un-necessary purchases, I'll circle in red ink so that they'll stand out.

Maybe that'll help too 'cuz I sure won't want to see too many things marked in red 'cuz that'd signify any "oops" purchases.

~*Jen*~

[nodmicks]

I'm going to start doing it again 4/1. I quit mid feb. I use microsoft money