When Stephen and I first started trying to manage our finances, we used three basic tools. One was to create a Budget. We had never used one before. In fact, I had never seen one. It took a few months of tweaking to get one that worked for us, but we got there. Click here for my article on how to put a budget together. Included in the Budget article is a Budgeting Spreadsheet.

The second was to use Envelopes. That’s right – I actually had white envelopes with cash in them in my purse. I would use envelopes for some of the categories in our budget, like groceries. It was an easy way to see how much I’d spent and what was left.

The third tool was to Track Our Spending. That process was scary! I was afraid to see where our money was going, and it seemed so tedious! But tracking our spending turned out to be a great tool for us. In fact, I still track every penny I spend. Why? We have transitioned from the accumulation phase to the drawdown phase where we are living off our investments. Tracking our spending kept everything in focus while we were saving and now it helps us not overspend. I’m hoping to graduate from tracking every penny, but it gives me a level of comfort I like. Maybe after we have a year or two of history with our retirement spending I will feel comfortable to not track it all.

If numbers and spreadsheets make your head spin, you’re probably cringing at the thought of tracking your spending. But instead of focusing on the how, let’s talk about the why. If you’re willing to recognize the benefits of tracking your spending, you’re more likely to do it. Here are six benefits of tracking your spending to get you motivated to start.

6 Benefits of Tracking Your Spending

(1) Helps You Make a Better Budget

In order to create a meaningful budget, you need to understand where your money goes. You probably know how much your rent or mortgage is. It’s a budget category that shouldn’t fluctuate too much. But how about your grocery bill? How about car repairs?

Many areas of your budget will fluctuate weekly, monthly or seasonally. If you only look at your last grocery receipt, you might overlook the fact you purchased extra food because of house guests or that you bought less because you were on a business trip. Depending on where you live, your utility bills may fluctuate wildly from season to season.

It’s important to track your spending over time in order to build a better budget. And when you build a better budget, you’re more likely to stick to it.

(2) Combats Mindless Spending

From what I have observed and experienced, impulse spending is the enemy of wealth. You’ve probably heard the story where someone making six figures a year is broke. How does that even happen? It’s because they spent, spent, spent and never had a plan for where the money was really needed.

That’s why having a budget is so important, but it’s not enough. If you’re spending way off plan, you’ll find yourself in the hole every month. On the other hand, if you track your spending, you might uncover a few shocking numbers.

Did you think you were spending $100 a week on groceries only to realize the figure was more like $300? Did you assume you spent $500 a year on clothes, only to see that you spent that amount each month? Or maybe you mindlessly spend money at the vending machines at work. That might not seem like a problem until you tally up the expense and realize what else you could have done with the money.

As you compare your spending to your budget, you might realize some areas need to be trimmed. You might also decide the excess money you’re spending is better off going toward debt or savings.

Tracking your spending puts your expenses in black and white. There’s no denying your problem areas anymore. Knowing is half the battle.

(3) Helps Get Your Spouse On Board

Finances are one of the biggest causes of stress and tension in long-term relationships. That’s more likely to be the case when neither party has any idea what the other party is doing with their money.

The very act of tracking spending together as a couple makes it more likely that you’ll coordinate with your spouse ahead of purchases. You can check to make sure all your expenditures align with the priorities you have as a team.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be on the same page with your spouse financially. When you’re not, it’s like being in the same boat, but rowing in opposite directions. You’re together, but you spend a lot of energy and go nowhere. Click here for my article on Being on the Same Page With Your Spouse.

(4) Catches Expenses You Forgot About

When you’re tracking your spending, go through your bank accounts and make sure you capture everything. Many people will find there are a few charges they forgot about (umm, iTunes anyone?) These charges are often subscriptions you signed up for a long time ago, and you might not have used the service in years.

People are especially prone to signing up for a “free” service that’s actually only free for a few months. Then it begins to charge you. You probably told yourself you would cancel the subscription before the charges kicked in but then forgot.

As you run through these charges, promptly cancel all subscriptions you no longer need or want. For the remainder of the charges, make sure they find a place in your budget.

(5) Confirms If Your Spending Aligns With Your Values

Are you in debt payoff mode? Are you saving for a house down payment or retirement? We all have some long-term financial goals. The ultimate goal of your budget is to make those long-term goals happen. However, your spending puts the pedal to the metal. Your budget means nothing unless you abide by it.

Let’s say you’re in debt payoff mode and you’ve budgeted $300 a month for it. However, each month you find you’re short of making that happen because you spent too much on entertainment or eating out. Tracking your spending allows you to start questioning yourself. Are these expenses really in line with your priorities?

One special note here: you are allowed to change your priorities. Debt payoff might be your priority today, but tomorrow it could be different. Make sure you know what your top priorities are by reviewing them monthly. Don’t allow your spending to control them. (This is what we did for years!)

(6) Simplifies Your Life

Let’s say you decide to track your spending. You pull together all your receipts. You arm yourself with a glass of wine to tackle the mountain of receipts before you.

The first month, you have 75 receipts to examine, plus additional charges in your bank statement you had forgotten about (oops). You stopped in the grocery store more than once each week. You had three different Amazon orders. You paid daycare each week. You got gas several times – not because you had to, but because you didn’t really plan your trips well.

As you move forward, you might find you want to simplify your life. You might force yourself to plan better for grocery shopping so you don’t have to run back to the store. You might force yourself to wait a few days on Amazon purchases. You might check with daycare to see if you can pay once a month, instead of weekly (and maybe get a discount).

A natural outcome of simplification is experiencing a small amount of savings. Fewer trips to the grocery store means less opportunity for impulse buying. Delaying Amazon purchases might be enough to make you decide against that purchase all together. Some places offer price breaks if you pay in advance (insurance is one notable area that gives breaks like this)(get in the habit of always asking about discounts for paying up front). Combining trips means savings on gas, plus less wear and tear of your vehicle.

The first few weeks of tracking your spending will be the hardest, but have no fear! It will get easier, and the benefits of tracking your spending will outweigh any negatives. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll experience these benefits.

Methods For Keeping Track of Expenses

Tracking spending can be done manually by writing down every purchase you make. Or you can use apps such as Mint or YNAB that link to your credit cards and bank accounts to make the process easier. Whatever approach you choose, it may seem like a hassle – but it’s well worth it in the end. The best approach is one that you feel comfortable enough to stick with every day.

(1) Record Expenses With Pen and Paper

If you prefer a tech-free solution for tracking your expenses, write down every penny that you spend and where you spent it in a notebook. Consider reserving a page for each spending category in your budget, or use one page and simply note the category next to each expenditure. This no-frills approach can tell you at a glance where your money is going. Although it may be more difficult to identify spending trends on paper, this method at least makes you more aware of your spending.

(2) Make It Easier With an App or Software

A more modern and convenient way to track your expenses is in a spreadsheet or an app. Online apps may even offer colorful graphs and charts to illustrate your spending habits, but both options allow you to quickly and easily enter your purchases in a spending category on the same day that you incur them.

I have created a very basic spreadsheet for expense tracking. You can get a copy for yourself by clicking the link below. (As with all my spreadsheets, be sure you save a copy for yourself before making any changes.) The first tab is the instructions, the second is a sample month and the fillable template for each month is in the following tabs.

To get your own copy of this Spreadsheet click here.

Work Together as a Couple

If you are married, you will both need to track your expenses. If you choose an app, you can sync your spending with your spouse’s so that you don’t blow your budget. If you use a spreadsheet, make sure each of you logs their expenses for the day.

Keep Going Even When You Overspend

If you discover that you overspent in a few categories, don’t just stop and wait for next month. It’s important to continue to track your expenses throughout the month so that you can identify what you need to change and by how much.

Conclusion

This activity shouldn’t take more than a few minutes each day if you adopt an expense tracking approach that works for you. If you consistently track your expenses, you will be able to save more, spend less, and make necessary changes to your finances that will allow you to build wealth.

Assignment 1 – Select a method for tracking your expenses. Pencil/Paper, Spreadsheet or App. If you don’t like your choice after a month or 2, pick a different method.

Assignment 2 – Start at the beginning of the next month and start tracking you expenses. I know this may feel time consuming or useless, but DON’T GIVE UP!

Key Takeaway – Tracking your spending will help you/spouse get a handle on where your money is going so you can be in control of your future and not let it “just happen to you.”

Coming Soon – In my next post we will tackle DEBT. How does it affect you and your financial stability and strategies for paying it off.

Thanks for hanging in there with me on my short absence. My mom is doing better and things have stabilized for now.

This post will be a continuation of the previous post titled How Do I Get a Handle On My Money. In this previous post I talked about what FI means, how to calculate your FI number and then gave you 2 assignments.

1. Add up all you debt (I mean ALL of it)
2. Make a list of the 10 things that make you happy

If you haven’t done these 2 things yet, stop here and do them now.

Your “10 Things” List

Were there any surprises on your “10 Things” list? Did you have a hard time making the list to begin with? You may not think you deserve to be happy or that happiness is just not within your reach. I want to tell you that these ideas are false. You can be happy.

I’m using the term happy, but really, this is joy…joy in the Lord. I’ll write about that in a future post. God gives us all we have and His desire is for you to experience joy.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

And, the idea that happiness is not within your reach is also false. In the next few months, we will work through all the steps you’ll need to get your finances on track and be able to tackle that “10 Things” list!

So, how about surprises on your list. You might have discovered some interesting things about yourself or your spouse. One concept that may have appeared is, not everything on your list requires money or at least not large amounts of money. You may have discovered you can be content and intentional with life and relationships and sometimes, that doesn’t cost anything!

Your Net Worth

Now, let’s put that debt number to work. We’re going to create a Net Worth Statement. This is a simple statement that lists all your Assets and Liabilities. Assets are what you Own and Liabilities are what you Owe. The difference between the Total Assets and Total Liabilities is Net Worth.

Why do a Net Worth Statement

A Net Worth Statement gives you a snapshot of your financial position. This information is useful in creating a financial plan or understanding more about your financial health. I know many people who don’t know how much they owe on their mortgage, how much they have in savings or even where some of their assets are. Don’t be one of those! Be informed about your finances.

How to Create a Net Worth Statement

A Net Worth Statement is easy to create. This can be done with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil or with a spreadsheet. If you are doing this on paper, simply draw a line down the middle of the page, title one column Assets and the other column Liabilities. List everything you own in the Asset column and everything you owe on the Liability column.

You’ll need to gather information about what you own, such as the value of your house and cars, similar to how you gathered all your debts earlier. I had you start with the debts or what you owe first because those are usually more time consuming and it’s a more emotional exercise.

If you are a spreadsheet person, you can create your statement with a spreadsheet similar to the one below. I have created a sample spreadsheet that will give you an idea of the categories you might need. Even if you are creating this on paper, look at the categories for ideas of the kinds of numbers you’ll need to gather.

There are many Net Worth spreadsheets available online. You can use this one or find another that fits your style better. Remember, one size does not fit all!

Plug in all your numbers or list them on your paper. When you are finished, add up the Asset column and then add up the Liability column. Take the Total Liabilities and subtract them from the Total Assets. (or let the spreadsheet do the math for you).

Is your Net Worth number positive or negative. If positive, this is your Total Net Worth today. If the number is negative, we’ve got some work to do!

This is my Sample Net Worth Statement Spreadsheet. If you would like to use mine, click the link below the picture of the spreadsheet, save a new copy for yourself and you are ready to go.

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n6JEEqTXpOZRwlJ2FfEI0GgdDUnQpJcwWxxnr6INvLM/edit#gid=0

Assignment and Key Takeaway

Assignment – Gather all your financial data and create you very first Net Worth Statement. If you already have one, make sure it’s up to date.

Takeaway – Be informed about your finances. Don’t depend on someone else to protect and track your money.

Looking Ahead

In Part 3, we will learn how to do a Monthly Budget

Have you wondered, “Will my spouse and I ever agree about money?! Can we possibly work together to create the life we want or will we always be at odds?” The bad news is…money issues are the primary reason for divorce in America. Good news…there’s hope.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be on the same page with your spouse financially. When you’re not, it’s like being in the same boat, but rowing in opposite directions. You’re together, but you spend a lot of energy and go nowhere.

One of the reasons Stephen and I spent so many years drifting in our finances is because We Didn’t Pay Attention. I kept thinking it would somehow magically all work out. What actually happened was, the more difficult our situation got, the more not being united was a problem. We needed to make some hard decisions and we couldn’t agree.

Getting on the same page with your spouse is possible. Not easy, but possible. Stephen and I struggled with not agreeing on spending, saving or even how to do Christmas! There were many reasons for our divergent ideas.

• Background – Everyone grows up with different money experiences in their childhood.
• Personality – Are you a natural spender or a natural saver. There are lots of times when a spender is married to a saver. (That’s not all bad, by the way)
• Gender Differences – Men look at money as a measure of achievement or a “scorecoard”. Women look at money as part of their security system. When it is not stable, fear can set in. (I experience this!)
• Divergent Goals – Each partner may have a different idea of what’s important to them.
• Lack of Goals – You may not have even thought about goals or what you’d like your future to look like.

All of these issues can be overcome.

Money Represents Your Values

Your money and the way you handle it represents your family’s value system. You may not have thought much about that, but now is a great time to start.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 6:21

Dream With Your Spouse

Get a cup of coffee, sit on the deck or take a walk in the park and have a conversation. Just dream. Talk about your dreams and your desires for your future. What do YOU want it to look like? What does YOUR SPOUSE want it to look like? Share your desires for your future with each other. Write them down to reference later. If you made your List of 10 Things That Make Me Happy from the previous post Personal Finance Basics Part 1 – How Do I Get a Handle On My Money?!?, now is a good time to pull that out.

While you’re having this conversation, REALLY LISTEN to your spouse. What do you hear from them that maybe you weren’t aware of? What pain might you be hearing from their childhood? Many of the items I shared above may surface during this conversation. The differences in your upbringing, differences is personality or goals. Have grace and patience with each other. Remember, the end-game is to walk into your future together, hand-in-hand.

I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Budgeting With Your Spouse

Working on the budget is where the rubber meets the road. If you don’t have a budget yet, you’ll need to start working on one. (If you don’t know where to start with a budget, I’ll be talking about that in a future post) If you have one prepared or you’ve been using a budget for a while, it may be time to revisit and revise.

Usually one partner is a money person or a spreadsheet nerd. Most times the other is not. The one with the talent and penchant for spreadsheets can prepare the preliminary budget, but BOTH partners need to make the final decisions. This will require some give and take. Some negotiation over categories and amounts, but in the end you should be able to determine a budget that reflects your goals and your values.

The flow of money in a household represents the value system under which that household operates.

The Board Meeting

One way Stephen and I softened the harshness of talking money was to schedule “Board Meetings”. Arrange a time and place where you can be away from the kids and other distractions to talk money. We would often have our Board Meetings at our favorite “hole in the wall” Mexican food restaurant. If spending money for this is not in the budget, go to the park or someplace that is meaningful to you.

Being outside of your normal surroundings and away from distractions and things that remind you of stress can sometimes make these conversations easier. Have these Board Meetings as often as you need. Later on, they will become a habit you look forward to.

Side Note: We found this was also a good way to have a “calendar meeting”. Coordinating schedules can also eliminate stress on your emotions and your budget. If you know that 3 nights next week you will be at school functions or games, you can plan ahead for meals and not “run through the drive-through”.

Final Thought

Getting a reluctant spouse on board may be difficult, but it is crucial to your success. Show them why you want to implement changes. Show them how much better your future can be if you don’t just follow the norm.

Are you frustrated about your money?  Are you embarrassed that you don’t know how to get a grip on your spending?  Are you totally frustrated with not knowing how to invest? 

You’re not alone.  Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.  If you’d like to break that cycle, you’re in the right place.  I’ve lived at least some of what you’re going through and there’s hope!  If you haven’t read my story, you can read it at Our Story.  We’re going to step through this together.  Ready to get started?

Financial Independence

 I want to start by giving you a picture of where we’re headed.  A vision of what your life can look like when you have your money under control.  I want to tell you about Financial Independence or FI.  Fi means different things to different people, but the technical definition is – When your passive income from sources other than your W2 job can cover your expenses, you are Financially Independent. 

Huh, what does that mean?  What’s passive income?  This is income from a source that does not require you to do work.  This means you’re not trading your time for money like you do at your W2 job.  These sources fall into 3 categories.

1. Dividends or Interest from investments like stocks or your 401k or IRA
2. Income from a side job like an online store or a side business you own
3. Rental Real Estate.

These are things that make you money even while you sleep.  Some folks have become Financially Independent with investments only or rental real estate only and some have a combination of all 3.  It’s your choice. 

How Much Do I Need?

So how much money do you need to become FI?  That’s up to you. The easy way to calculate this is to look at how much money it takes for you to live now.  We’re going to talk through how to come up with that number in a future post.  When you know how much you spend in a year, then that number is plugged into a formula.  This formula is generally called the 4% Rule of Thumb.  Don’t worry, it’s easy.

The 4% Rule (of Thumb)

The 4% Rule, for short, says that you can withdraw 4% of your investments each year and still maintain your principal over time. 

Total Investments x 4% = Annual Income

Another way to calculate it would be:

Desired Annual Income x 25 = Total Investment needed

For example, if you need $40,000/year to cover your expenses in retirement, you will need $1,000,000 in investments.

Woah!  That’s a big chunk of change!

It might sound like a huge amount right now, but I can tell you that with the right tools AND the right mindset, this is totally possible.

Where Do We Begin?

The best place to begin is by evaluating where you are.  Do you know how much debt you have?  I mean Total Debt.  You may have never added up your total debt.  It may be too scary.  You may feel like you’ll be judged by your spouse, friends or family. 

It may not by pleasant, but this is where we need to start.  Pull out everything you owe and add it up.  This will include:

• car loans
• student loans
• mortgage (if you have one)
• credit cards  
• loans on toys like boats, 4-wheelers or jet skis

Hold on to your total debt number and we will use in the exercise in Part 2 – Your Net Worth Statement.

Assignment and Key Takeaway

Assignment 1 – Calculate your Total Debt.

Assignment 2 – Make a list of “10 Things That Make Me Happy”. Take some time to think about this. If you could plan your “perfect day”, what would it include? Who would you spend it with? What would you do? Cook a gourmet meal, go on a hike, take a road trip, eat chocolate? It can be anything. Think about what lights you up.

Key Takeaway – Don’t be afraid to take a good look at your debt. The first step in gaining control of your money is to access where you are right now.

Looking Ahead

In Part 2, we’ll look at How to calculate your Net Worth. Until then, Assignments 1 and 2 are your homework. See you next time!

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1