Now Reading
Tracking Income & Expenditures

Tracking Income & Expenditures

I track my income and my spending each month using two methods. I’ll write about the first method now, and then the second method tomorrow (since this was getting a little long).

For the first part, I use an OpenOffice spreadsheet to input everything I spend and everything I make by category.

The major categories that I use for expenses are housing, household expenses, entertainment, pets, auto-related expenses, business expenses, health & appearance, and personal spending. Each of those major categories has about 10-12 smaller headings under them.

For example, in the entertainment category, I have Netflix, movies in the theater, snacks, dining out, travel, hobbies, gardening, and events (meaning concerts, plays, etc.) These little subcategories match up (for the most part) with the way I enter things in Quicken.

I don’t think most people have nearly as many categories as I do, but it works for me and I like to see the breakdown. It helps me keep things where I want them to be.

I have my income broken down by source as well, so that I can easily see what I’m making the most money from and where I could maybe make better use of my time. My expenditures and income are then totaled up automatically by the spreadsheet each month. I’ve been doing this since 2007, and it’s interesting to see what things have changed and what has stayed the same. I enjoy tracking because it helps me pay attention, and when I pay attention I’m more likely to get to where I want to be.

View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

© 2023 BLUNTMONEY. All Rights Reserved | Disclaimer

Scroll To Top
Skip to content