your "system" for tracking your budget

Got an excel sheet that breaks it down pretty specific. Just update it from my statements every month or so. I know. Low tech.

I guess I'm primitive but all of my finances are on MS Word. I only use Excel for my golf statistics. I keep track of scores, by courses, years, driving accuracy, putts, balls lost, etc. It's kind of fun.

Oh look at that...a year's salary

I put 95% of everything I spend on my Amex (sans Rent and Car note)

Very easy to keep track of spending this way and I create labels for each type of transaction.

Mint is awesome

Every dollar I spend I write it in the 'notes' section of my phone, then update my spreadsheet every 3 or 4 days. I just use an excel spreadsheet. I have about 10ish different categories for expenses, and track income as well. I've been doing this since February of 2012 and it's a habit now, I can't imagine not doing it.


The only 'thing' is that I don't really do anything with this information. Like I have all this data, but I don't apply it in anyway. I just like having it

The real way to do this is to make enough money that you don't need to track your personal expenses.

I get paid near the end of the month.

All my bills are set to auto draft between the 25th-28th.
I pay/save/invest everything at once and try to keep $100 cash for any expenses that arise before the 10th. On the 10th I receive a small check of $100-200. That gets me to the 25th for another cycle! So exciting!

I use a spreadsheet in excel.
I hate Mint because of the uncategorized transactions. Hate. It.

I tried mint, but it just didn't work for me. I have my own excel sheet I use. Inputting my own data helps me understand things more better.

Yeah. I just update them from my phone when I have some downtime. It takes probably 10 minutes a month.

I can't imagine excel working better than mint unless your bank isn't compatible with mint, in which case, you should probably get a new bank. I actually like u categorized expenses because it makes them easier to find and categorize. If they are recurring you can just set a rule or change them until the program learns what it is.