Tracking expenses - are you still keeping track of your money

I know life has been a bit unusual lately. Covid-19, protests, social unrest, everyone wanting to rewrite history rather than accept the lessons we learned and move on. In that same vein, are you still tracking your expenses?

Or

Have you decided that

• it is too much work
• it is not showing you anything you did not already know
• I am still in lock-down so I am not spending any money besides food and rent

well, you get the idea.

If you stopped tracking expenses can you explain where every dollar has gone the last couple of months?

Is the amount of money in your checking and savings accounts the difference between rent, utilities, food? Or is there still leakage that you cannot explain?

If you find you are still not sure where all your money is going then please take out the small notebook and pencil and start tracking expenses again.

You really need a clear picture of where your money is going in order to take the next step of reducing or eliminating unnecessary expenses and improving your savings account balances.

I suspect that like me you would like to know that you have enough money in the bank that you could go three or four months without income and still be ok. That would give you time to find new employment, maybe start a new business, take a long vacation.  Without this cushion, you will forever be on the stress treadmill worrying about where that next dollar is coming from and always fearful.

Tracking expenses and managing a budget will help you break that cycle.

Those of you who have been tracking expenses all this time Congratulations!

Those of you who stopped for various reasons, please start tracking again. I am not giving you busy work. This information will be extremely helpful in both building your budget (financial road map) and finding holes to plug in your financial wealth.

I believe in you!