Do you keep track of your expenses.?

Yes I keep track of my expenses. It is essential also. It helps us to control extravagancy. Each family have different reasons of expenses. But by close monitoing for few months, control is possible. We can expense this remaining amount for other purpose or savings. As medicines are constly these days, our more money goes in that account. Education also attracts more money of our income. Almost half of our earnings goes in housing, if opted for full-flaged. Living in metro cities have other story. In my opinion there must of percentage of expenses for each type. We should avoid to cross the limit decided, except unforeseen expenses. Better planning by couple is must at the start of service. Can rise the expenses as per earnings.

My girlfriend does the same thing. She keeps track of every penny we spend during the month. At the end of the month she goes over everything to see where we can cut out some of the extras. With her doing things this way we have saed a couple of hundred dollars a month. I never realized how much we wasted till she started doing this.

No i dont do that it is so boring!

Great.. I think I will also have to start track my every expence.. I think it helpful for me to know where I am spending extra money and how I can save money .. Thanks friends it is really a nice idea... could any one tell me more about it that how could you do this..

i used to do that.. i used o have a journal for my expenses and i list everything down to the very last cent.. that was when i was still in college and i have an allowance.. now that i'm working.. i don't think it's that relevant anymore since i don't have money all the time... harharhar.. seriously, i'll try to start over.. i even have a blog for it.. hehe.. tell me what you think about it: http://haylayp.blogspot.com thanks!!!

Yep. I have an oraganizer which I have divided into a few sections like for food, marketing, petrol, recycling (every now and then we collect newspapers, flyers and other stuff - and every month we sell em off - my husband and me),groceries...etc...It's a good habit.

Really nice way to keep track of whats going around in your household ,for me its work mentally ,i just try to memorize how much i spend at the end of day so that during the day i should be able to recollect the same,for me its like i should never exceed my spendinmg limit and at the same time take care that both expenses and income are well balanced so as to inculcate the habit of savings in near future.

I did at one point but I noticed that if I have an idea how much more I have and how much more I can spend then I can't stop spending my money. I notice that when I list all expenses my money runs out so quickly. So now, I have stopped doing that. As long as I know I didn't lose any money then that's fine. I'm not such a good accountant even for my own expenses but I wish I knew better how to spend my money wisely.

I keep a record of my spendings, so that I could come to know that what is monthly average expenditure. Even if a check is kept on expenses and if one kind of expense is reduced, I feel other type of expense keep on emerging, and the end result is that average come to the same in the normal months. In the months of festivals average expenditure goes up. Have a great day!

when i was in college and was living in a boarding house away from my family, i used to keep track of my expenses because i was tight on budget and i wanted to save some money. ^__^ i tried to avoid buying things that are unnecessary. i realized i was spending much on food! LOL but i thought, hey, at least its food, and its good for me so its okay. ^__^ now im working i still keep track of my expenses but only those big ones. so if i check on my money i will know where the big portion has gone to. ^__^

congratulations for the discipline of tracking down every penny you spend. It is one of the things i can't get myself to do. I did try it one time but i found it silly to list everything you spend down to the smallest amount. But after reading your post, i guess i have to try doing it again for the sake of saving. I am always at a loss at how much money i spend in a month so i think it's time to track down my expenses. wish me luck.

I keep a record of the regular expenses, it's all on a spreadsheet. When i have paid a bill i check it off, so i always know what i have paid and what not. I set myself a daily limit what i can spend that day, this limit changes every month.

Yeah, i'm keeping record of my expenses too! Reviewing it every weekend and make some changes. It helps to save.

I am the one whoose managing expenses and savings.I have to admit that makes me stress sometimes specially when we need to pay a lot just like tax, and health insurance, car insurance, cable, internet, telephone landline,two cellphone roaming account,foods,clothings,electricity,gas,pet tax.These are the list of basics that were spending in a month.making me crazy haha.When i was in Philippines i am not tracking down every penny that i am spending but since i move here in Netherlands i learned how to save and watching out for spending...I kinda feel like stresssss... stressss....stresss.They said life in Philippines is so difficult but i dont agree.Mybe its difficult to some other way but no stress like i feel here. Its easy to keep tracking down expenses here becouse they got internet banking so everytime i am looking what i can save and what i need to cut-off the things we've spending that is not necessary.

Good habit! I think you are a ideal housewife. I do keep track of my expenses.Only to keep a track is not sufficient.Analysing it,and taking a proper action is a must,then after getting positive results it gives a real satisfaction.One more thing excessive tracking also leads to frustration,one should avoid it. This is also very much helpful everywhere--home,office,shop,business.

I do Keep track on my expenses each month.It's so important to know what have you spend on the most and how to avoid from happening again.

I keep track of our monthly expenses, and try to locate areas where we spend too much. We tend to overspend on entertainment items (DVDs, in particular), and have been trying to cut back on that expense. It is hard to do, especially since we just moved to a new place, but once we are stabilized, I am hoping to start saving a few hundred dollars a month, so that we can buy a house some day.

Yes. But not by maintaining a proper notebook etc. I always a mental calculations of all the expenses I have done and will do. Thanks god, I have a good memory. ;)

Oh yes, I keep track our family expenses using Microsoft Excel. This will help us to know which area do we spend, what we have been purchasing. Just like what you have mention. I too find it is extremely helpful.

I've been trying to save money lately. And, this would be the perfect idea. I should really start recording our expenses more often. Years ago, I tracked our expenses for an entire month just to see how we were doing. And, it was very reassuring to know exactly where the money was going every month. Now, I could't tell you where, when or how, when it comes to the money and budget.