The 7 Secrets To Tracking Monthly Expenses

When it comes to tracking monthly expenses, if you’ve never done it before, it may seem confusing at first. But when you have the right tips on hand, you can start tracking your expenses every month with ease. So if you are ready to track your expenses, start now with these top seven secrets for tracking monthly expenses.

Use These 7 Secret Tips To Track Your Monthly Expenses

1. Understand The Difference Between Tracking And Recording

Contrary to popular belief, tracking monthly expenses and recording expenses are not the same. Record-keeping enables you to stay ahead of what you owe and pay your bills promptly. It involves collecting your receipts, looking at the total amount of each one, and ensuring the correct amount was charged from your debit or credit account.

On the other hand, tracking your expenses has a second step — looking at what you spent your money on. Instead of only considering the total receipt amount, you look at each item on the receipt to identify trends, see what you're actually spending, and make decisions about how to change your financial habits.

2. Don't Overcomplicate Matters

As the world shifts into an ever-digital space, the number of budget and money tracking apps has skyrocketed. But if you're not a tech-heavy person, you don't need to make tracking monthly expenses a tech-heavy ordeal. Just stick to what you know. Otherwise, you're bound to give up before you reap the benefits this tracking habit can bring.

3. Check Your Bank Statements

Since you know the difference between recording your spending and tracking it, it'll be no shock that "check your bank statements" made it into our seven secrets. Look at all your accounts — including credit cards and checking accounts — to pinpoint your money habits exactly.

Doing this will help you identify where you're shopping and the amount you're spending. As we briefly mentioned earlier, you can save the receipts and look at your spending this way too. You should also consider the amount of money you have coming in every month. Hopefully, you'll be spending less than you earn!

4. Put Your Spending Into Categories

While analyzing your receipts and bank accounts, start putting your expenses into groups. Depending on your account provider, they may automatically categorize some outgoings for you, such as groceries, automotive, and utilities. You will quickly see that all those impulse buys at your favorite store really add up.

Or perhaps you'll suddenly realize you're paying for a subscription you haven't utilized in ten months! When tracking monthly expenses, you should record fixed and variable costs. Fixed payments — mortgage, rent, utilities, debt payments, insurance, etc. — are unlikely to change. Variable expenses — food, clothing, entertainment, etc. — constantly change.

5. Create A Budget You Can Stick To

Another secret you need to learn when you start tracking monthly expenses is to create a budget you can actually stick to. By sticking to the monetary amount you've set for each category, you won't have to worry about whether you have enough for food or utilities. Your budget should include:

• Rent or mortgage.
• Utilities.
• Travel or vehicle expenses.
• Food.
• Savings.
• Entertainment.

 

 

6. Find Room For Improvement

As you start tracking monthly expenses, be prepared to change your habits. The entire point of tracking your expenses is for you to notice the trends and make appropriate changes that’ll improve your finances. Keeping tabs on your monthly outgoings will likely alter your financial outlook and spur you to cut costs wherever you can.

7. Use A Payday Loan To Handle Emergencies

It can be tempting to throw your budget to the wind when life throws you curveballs. But even without a sufficient emergency fund, you can pay for the crisis and stick to your budget by getting a payday loan. When you come to visit us at Mississippi Title Loans, Inc., you can borrow between $100 and $400 to cover one-off costs with our loans.

If you need help handling your emergency without throwing away your budget, you can get a payday loan from Mississippi Title Loans, Inc. to help you out. Just head to our website and read up on our loan and how the process works. Once you are ready, just fill out the online form and a loan representative from the nearest Mississippi payday loan location will give you a call to continue.

Start Tracking Your Monthly Expenses Today!

As you can see, with the right secrets at your disposal, you can easily start tracking monthly expenses as soon as today. Just use any of these tips and you will be well on your way. And if you run into an emergency that hurts your expense tracking, use a payday loan to help you out. Fill out the online form now to get started.

 

Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.