Tracking Finances

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Riyonuk

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Seeing as how the majority of users here are constantly spending money (or that's the impression I get), I thought this would be most suitable to ask here ^_^

I'm currently ending my High School year, and will be on to adult-hood! Oh yeah! But one thing that has always confounded me, was keeping track of what I spend, and what I receive. I was given this nifty checkbook from Wells Fargo, but tossed it aside, because the lady told me it was unnecessary, as I was signed up for online banking. I didn't argue.

I don't purchase things very often, it's rare to see me buy something, I'm a greedy person who penny pinches. As I look through my online records, I just get dizzy with confusion, look at this, I wouldn't even know if I was over-charged, never given a refund, or payed more than once. Maybe I'm overreacting, but just the way these online services present themselves, is confusing to look at.

[Pics deleted at request of GuilewasNK]

I wanted to just start all over, cancel my Pay-Pal and Wells Fargo account, and keep track with the checkbook, like my Grandma does, but maybe that's overkill? I don't know, what software (if any), do you guys use? Prefer paper? Don't really care? :p
 
You should take those links down. You never know how someone might try to use that info. It might not seem like much, but some people are crafty.
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']You should take those links down. You never know how someone might try to use that info. It might not seem like much, but some people are crafty.[/quote]

I had a feeling somebody would mention that, I didn't think much of it, but now that I do, your probably right. What do you use to keep track of spending?
 
I have an Excel spreadsheet that records all my income and expenses. Since all my bills and accounts are online, it's very each to keep track of everything.
 
[quote name='dopa345']I have an Excel spreadsheet that records all my income and expenses. Since all my bills and accounts are online, it's very each to keep track of everything.[/quote]

Would you mine uploading that for me, as a template? Deleting all financial information of course!
 
quicken online is free and it connects to the online bank from your institution and tracks your expense and deposits. it even makes reports of how much you spend in what categories.

you should check it out. ITS FREE.
 
First off, I applaud you for realizing the importance of this topic. I'm among those who feel that personal finance should be a high school course in this day and age. Best advice I can give is to learn excel formulas and you can set up some pretty handy templates for just about anything without having to rely on online calculators constantly. If you're going into college at all (or even if you aren't) I would recommend taking the generic IT course that covers the Office applications and also individual taxation at the local community college.. a small $ and time investment that will save you so much in the long term.

There's a ton of programs out there too, and pardon me if I'm incorrectly assuming, but you probably don't have any complicated dealings quite yet. When I felt like being on top of things I gave Quicken a shot and it was fairly easy to navigate. Since I'm a masochistaccountant I have fairly good grasp of where I'm at, at all times without having to check as often, but it's a good habit to check your balances daily because it's easy to forget things like you bought a round for everyone on your card at the bar, or you'll have emergencies and it's nice to know which funds you can draw from immediately.
 
I use an excel spreadsheet very simple.

Each month:

Income:

Expenses: (Amount Due, Amount Paid, Date Due, Date Paid)
Rent
Utilities
- Comcast
- Heat/Hot Water
- Electric
Credit Card
Student Loan
 
I think this really depends on how detailed you want to be. For me personally, I think I went over the top budgeting, but it helps me to sleep at night knowing I have the money for each bill. Here is how I do it.

I bought a notebook for $1. On each page, I label a budget. I have house payment, cable bill, food, etc etc etc. Every bill I have has its own page (I also have stuff to save for a vacation, for bday gifts, etc, so I use about 40 pages now, probably started with about 20, but you could get away with as little as 5). Next, every payday, I divy out my checks to the various buckets (same amount every 2 weeks). Also, whenever I spend something out of that budget (go grocery shopping) I'll write that amount on the page and take the money out.

It's similar to having a different checking account for each bill. It helps me to think about it, and to know when I'm going to Mcdonalds for burgers, I'm not spending the money I need for my housenote.

Also, I use an excel spreadsheet to help me add everything up. I can balance my checkbook in 5-10 minutes most weeks (I do it every week for comfort, you can tell I'm anal). So, once you get everything set up, it's really easy to see where you make a mistake.

Also, you get a very good feel for where your money's going. It helps to plug those leaks in your budget (wow, I spend $12 on coffee that week, I need to cut back, etc).
 
Am i the only one who can remember expenses without actually writing them down? I know approximately how much i spend on food every week without even checking my account. Maybe that's because i have such a routine.
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Am i the only one who can remember expenses without actually writing them down? I know approximately how much i spend on food every week without even checking my account. Maybe that's because i have such a routine.[/quote]

I'm with you, but it's also not very hard when you wake up on paydate and pay out your bills 15 minutes later and are left with $40 for two weeks ;)
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Am i the only one who can remember expenses without actually writing them down? I know approximately how much i spend on food every week without even checking my account. Maybe that's because i have such a routine.[/QUOTE]


This works perfectly if your bills are the same every month and you have a routine. I think the problem is, are you ever 4 days away from payday, and wondering where all your money went? I suppose with a family, I have more expenses, but I can trace every expense back.

I also hope you check your bank account every so often. My brother in law didn't, and he had some trouble. Long story short, they gave him a high interest checking account with a minimum balance. He never had the minimum balance, so they socked him with a $15 fee monthly. After 2 years, he gets a letter saying his accounts overdrawn and he owes them $100 (after his paycheck auto deposited). He complained, and figured out what happened, but obviously, the bank isn't sympathetic to your story when they send you statements monthly, and you don't look at them, and just assume you have money.
 
I also use Quicken and find it very user-friendly for tracking and setting up categories to help with budgeting.

I found the budgeting features were difficult to customize to get what I was looking for so I use a simple Excel spreadsheet I populate from Quicken reports to do my actual budget.

Kudos to you young man for taking control of your finances before you end up on Suze Orman's show!
 
I personally used MSN Money for my finances. It was able to download all of the information from my credit cards and bank accounts. Then you could list each transaction as food, entertainment, etc etc and then if you made another purchase at the same store it would remember. It was really cool I thought.
 
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