Expense Tracking Spreadsheet Delayed a Day (Or So)

*** Note: The spreadsheet is complete and uploaded. You can find out more in the post about it.

Sorry about the delay in releasing the Expense Tracking Spreadsheet. In the process of preparing a sample spreadsheet, I realized I should probably write a tutorial of how to actually use it. It uses pivot tables, which many people are unfamiliar with. As soon as I get that complete, I’ll post it for you to use.

In the meantime, I would recommend using the “old-fashioned” method of tracking your expenses – a mini notebook or a Moleskine. You should make sure to track when and where purchases were made, how much you spent, and what category (or categories) your purchase falls under. If you have multiple categories in one receipt, make sure to write only the appropriate amount for each category. That is one very quick place budgets fall apart – a single receipt with multiple categories isn’t broken out, so all that money falls incorrectly under one category.

And when you have the tracking spreadsheet to use, don’t ditch that notebook. The second common failing of budgets are untracked expenses. That’s why you must make sure to write down the transaction as soon as you can after it happens and then transfer it to the spreadsheet later. You may forget by the time you get home how much you spent on lunch or you may completely forget that you dropped some change in a collection kettle. Yes, track that, too! Track every single penny that leaves you. Only then can you really have a good view of your overall expense picture.