Page 14 - Book3E

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on page 79 to help you get started. Following are the most common suggestions for tracking your expenditures. Use the method that works best for you.
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Make it a simple record in a pocket-size notebook that is easy to carry around with you. Keep a continuous list of expenditures as they happen.
Keep all bills and receipts. If you spend money somewhere that doesn’t give receipts, e.g., a parking meter or laundromat, make a receipt for yourself on a piece of paper. Store the receipts in envelopes by week.
Use a check register, cash ledger, or similar form. Record the amount you allot to each day at the top and then deduct each actual expenditure from it. How many days do you have a negative balance?
Give everyone his own tracking form. Have each family member record the amount he spends.
Reveal Needed Changes
Ultimately, the development of new spending habits may be the most important thing you do to improve your financial affairs and make the move from debt to prosperity. By tracking your spending, it will become apparent which categories your spending falls into. This will make it easier to determine the categories needed in your budget.
In Volume 2, you began a list of Household Monthly Expenses. You will need that list now to review what you are actually spending compared to what you think you are spending.
1. Gather the spending records you have collected for the past month.
2. Review the list of Monthly Expenses you made in Volume 2 on page 17. Create a spreadsheet by putting each Monthly Expense at the top of a column across a sheet of paper. A spread- sheet has been included with the forms in the Appendix at the back of this volume for your use, or you can create your own.
A Rose, or a Budget, by Any Other Name