Hellobee Boards Topic: Do you track your expenses?

Hellobee Boards Topic: Do you track your expenses? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:07:48 +0000 woodentulip on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-215039 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:30:53 +0000 woodentulip 215039@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We use mint,com but nothing beyond that! mrsjyw on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-215012 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:12:26 +0000 mrsjyw 215012@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I track all my monthly bills via excel spreadsheet. I don't track every single debit/credit transaction, but overall spending I do track on a monthly basis :) heffalump on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214988 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 07:42:03 +0000 heffalump 214988@https://boards.hellobee.com/ DH does. He follows everything online. We rarely use cash so it's pretty easy. yoursilverlining on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214515 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 09:06:22 +0000 yoursilverlining 214515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, not really. I check our bank accounts and credit card online every few days to check for fraud, and if I see that we are spending like crazy, I'll just mention to my husband (or myself, if I'm the problem spender!) that we need to slow down on the spending for the remainder of the month. We move money into savings first, so we always save no matter what we spend. If we spend all we have in a month, so be it, if we don't - extra goes into savings. Usually we have extra to sweep into savings at the end of the month. mediagirl on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214457 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 07:14:17 +0000 mediagirl 214457@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We do. We budget what we will spend where every month. Our bills are done in Google docs so we can both see it at any time. We don't have much to play with each month after bills, retirement and savings, so we track every dollar that we spend beyond that. SleepyMonkey on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214424 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 02:19:36 +0000 SleepyMonkey 214424@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Not really. If we do, it is out of curiosity but not for budgeting purposes. runsyellowlites on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214421 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 01:36:28 +0000 runsyellowlites 214421@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @tequiero21: I use QB too! It took awhile to get everything set up but I track quite a few different categories of spending from eating out, household/food groceries, car: fuel & ins (both are paid off), entertainment, electronics, medical, etc.... And track our types of income since I do books per client (contract) & DH get W-2 income... I even track the child support income I get from DS's dad (when I happen to get it) I'm pretty behind since having DD but at some point I'll get caught back up & really since she's been born we've spent less of a"variety" so it's pretty easy from me to track mentally. BoogieBea on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214414 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 00:36:09 +0000 BoogieBea 214414@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We don't but we should. We pay for most things on our cards do we track it that way..sort of. The credit card bill does group our charges in categories that allow us to see how much we're spending and where. tequiero21 on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214411 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 00:26:48 +0000 tequiero21 214411@https://boards.hellobee.com/ i do. on quickbooks and excel. i'm a bit behind right now cuz of the twins. GreenThumb on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214280 Sat, 07 Jul 2012 19:14:42 +0000 GreenThumb 214280@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We love Mint! We started using it right after we got married since we had a lot of accounts to keep track of (even though we did combine some). We don't keep strict budgets, but it is good to know where our money goes. Freckles on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214242 Sat, 07 Jul 2012 17:37:54 +0000 Freckles 214242@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We use excel as well. I download our bank/visa statements onto an excel and have it set up (with vlookups and all!) so that all the amounts get pulled into different categories. We also only allow each of us to take out a specific amount of cash at the beginning of the month (and put most of our purchases on our cards) so that most of our expenses can be tracked and accounted for. Meridian on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-214115 Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:00:24 +0000 Meridian 214115@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No... but we really should! I signed up for a Mint.com account YEARS ago, but it's also been years since I last logged in. They keep sending me "come back!" emails and I keep deleting them. Hrmm... maybe it's time to start tracking again. We just had a chat the other day about future financial goals... off to mint.com now! lemondrop on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-213562 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:11:32 +0000 lemondrop 213562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We do now that I am working part time. Since it would be very easy to overspend on the budget we were used to, we use Mint to keep track of things. Honeybee on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-213556 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 17:08:10 +0000 Honeybee 213556@https://boards.hellobee.com/ DH tracks our finances using mint.com. ladyfingers on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-213549 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:58:54 +0000 ladyfingers 213549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yes. I have a budget set up in a Google Doc spreadsheet, and I enter my expenses every few days. I also have Mint, the budget is looser over there but I use it to track category expenses over time so that I can readjust the budget as needed. It will really come in handy once we combine our finances. mrskc on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212977 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:07:18 +0000 mrskc 212977@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @birdofafeather: I really do love mint! It really opened my eyes to how much I was spending. I've figured out a way to use it that really works for me. I love that I can have budgets and keep track of them through out the month to make sure we're not over spending. ninja on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212972 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:05:04 +0000 ninja 212972@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrskc: @pastemoo: @birdofafeather: Yes! I love mint.com. It makes sticking to a budget so much easier! I am also obsessed with budget spreadsheets. I even have an excel spreadsheet calendar for bills that shows projected checking balances... :/ <---- nerd alert! Alivoo01 on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212893 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:34:22 +0000 Alivoo01 212893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Nope, but when our credit card statements come back larger than usual I review it to determine where our excessive spending is. hilsy85 on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212892 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:34:09 +0000 hilsy85 212892@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I don't, but DH does...he has spreadsheets of our net worth, lol, and he looves updating them each month! MamaMoose on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212891 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:33:44 +0000 MamaMoose 212891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Nope. I look at my bank accounts all the time. And check my credit card statements for fraud. But I don't actually track our spending by category. Like @Andrea: we are currently in a place where we can buy what we want (in reason) and still save each month so we don't see a need for a strict budget. edelweiss on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212883 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:30:29 +0000 edelweiss 212883@https://boards.hellobee.com/ when we first moved we tried to be better about tracking using mint.com, but now we just have a general idea of how much goes out and we leave it at that. if we have a baby, i imagine that we'll try to start tracking again, at least at the beginning, since it's a big financial change and we'll want to get our head around things. Sammyfab on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212728 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 07:53:38 +0000 Sammyfab 212728@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I don't but my husband does! He has a super elaborate spreadsheet that is color-coded. Thanks to him I was able to pay off all of my school debt within 3 years! Boogs on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212610 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:13:52 +0000 Boogs 212610@https://boards.hellobee.com/ No, but our credit card does show us different categories of our spending if we are ever curious. birdofafeather on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212600 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:05:45 +0000 birdofafeather 212600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ like @mrskc: @pastemoo: we use mint to track everything. i can't imagine not knowing how much money we are taking in and putting out! but i'm a numbers nerd and we don't make much money, so we need to make sure we know where everything is going. Tidybee on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212367 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:16:53 +0000 Tidybee 212367@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We do. DH created an excel file with categories and we go over our statements at the end of each cycle and plug in what we spent on what. It has really helped us to save. pastemoo on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212366 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:16:46 +0000 pastemoo 212366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ mint.com :) and an excel spreadsheet mrskc on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212361 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:14:38 +0000 mrskc 212361@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I do! I use Mint.com to track all of our spending. I love that website! It's really helped us keep track of our budgets and save a lot of money. prettylizy on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212335 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:07:12 +0000 prettylizy 212335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ When I first started mat leave DH printed out a simple excel spreadsheet that I was to write down everything I spent that fell under his list of things (Groceries, diapers, baby things, pharmacy items). After a few months of tracking our expenses based on our new family and new income status, we let it go. It was more to satisfy DH that I wasn't going to overspend than anything. SusieQ on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212333 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:06:27 +0000 SusieQ 212333@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We used to track everything when we were first married, but now we only track groceries. We stopped because we are both really financially conservative and just don't spend money on "things." It's not that we're against spending the money (okay, well, sometimes I am), its more that the "things" don't really appeal to us. Running Elley on "Do you track your expenses?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/do-you-track-your-expenses#post-212332 Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:06:13 +0000 Running Elley 212332@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Leialou: That's basically what we do too.