In theory, we all want to reduce our spending and make more money but knowing how well we are doing without actually keeping track of your progress is impossible. It’s always a good idea to just lay out the facts when talking about money matters and the expense tracker is the perfect tool to aid in this regard.

If the whole family is involved in budget making and expense tracking, it makes discussions much easier. Money is always a hard subject to discuss. By preventing a crisis from starting, you are way ahead of everyone else who can only react. Looking through your finances at regular intervals will allow you to spot trends and see areas that can be improved way before it becomes a problem. Once you start thinking about money often, you will be able to find more ways to save and more ways to generate income. The more time you spend thinking about your money, the more focus you are in building your wealth. This is a side benefit of having a budget but it’s an important one. The good news is that once you have a routine going, then it doesn’t take that long to have everything up-to-date. Without easy to read data, there is no way of know what is going on. Having a budget helps you stay disciplined to organize your finances, which is the first step in knowing your overall financial health. I list a few below for your consideration: There are many reasons to make a budget and keep track of all expenses aside from growing a surplus. There may not be problems even if you neglect maintenance for a long time, but consequences can be disastrous when an accident finally occurs. However, maintaining a budget is like maintaining a bridge. Plus, it’s not like neglecting to enter all the data has any immediately noticeable impact on us anyway. I know it’s tedious to keep the expenses tracking up-to-date. I know I’m saving money because my account grows every month. I however don’t budget and never keep track of my expenses. I have $100,000 saved up in bank accounts by following good frugal practices that you and others outline. When she was puzzled about budgeting, she wrote in to ask: Sandy knows she is growing her savings by having a surplus each month and putting it in high yielding online savings accounts.

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