📊 Tracking Your Spending: The First Step to Financial Control

17 May

🧭 Why Tracking Comes Before Budgeting

Budgeting is a plan for your money.
Tracking is the truth about your money.

Most people jump into budgeting and then get frustrated when they overspend. That’s because they didn’t stop to look at what they’re actually spending in the first place.

Tracking gives you clarity:

Where your money is going
What habits are driving your spending
What leaks you can plug (without pain)

Before you fix the problem, you have to see it.

📌 What to Track (Don’t Overcomplicate It)

Start with a 30-day snapshot of:

Every expense (no matter how small)
Recurring bills (subscriptions, rent, utilities)
Variable spending (groceries, takeaways, nights out)
Cash spending (use notes or your phone to log it)

Use categories like:

Housing
Food
Travel
Subscriptions
Fun & Leisure
Debt Repayments
Savings

🛠️ How to Track Your Spending (UK Tools + Methods)

1. Manual Tracking (Great for Awareness)

Use a notebook, spreadsheet, or budgeting printable.
Write down every transaction for a month.
This creates mindfulness — you’ll often start spending less just by noticing more.

2. Spreadsheets (Simple & Customisable)

Set up a monthly tracker in Excel or Google Sheets.
Create columns for Date, Amount, Category, and Notes.
Tally up weekly and monthly totals.

3. Budgeting Apps (Efficient & Automated)

Emma, Snoop, or Moneyhub (UK-based open banking apps).
Link your accounts and the app categorises spending automatically.
Get alerts, trends, and monthly insights.

💥 What You’ll Discover When You Start Tracking

You might be surprised by

How much you spend on food delivery
How many unused subscriptions are eating your bank balance
How often impulse purchases stack up
That you do have room to save — it just isn’t being seen

Tracking gives you a real picture.
No shame. Just clarity.

🔁 Turning Tracking Into a Habit

Set a weekly money check-in (Sunday night, Friday afternoon — whenever works for you).
Log your spending daily (2 minutes a day is enough).
Review your totals monthly to spot trends and tweak your plan.

Remember: You’re not tracking to punish yourself. You’re tracking to empower yourself.

🧠 Final Thought

You can’t build a budget that works if you don’t know what’s really happening with your money.

Tracking your spending is the foundation of every strong financial decision.
It’s simple, powerful, and it starts with just writing one expense down.

📌 Start today with your next purchase — and start reclaiming control.

Joshua Pyrah