Three Steps For Tracking Personal Monthly Household Cash Flow

Following are three steps to getting on top of your monthly income and expenses:

1. Keep track of your daily expenses: Write down your purchases asap after you make them - in a small notebook or on your smartphone.  Everyone in your household who spends money does this.
2. Decide on a format for keeping track of your expenses and income.  This could be an Excel spreadsheet or a pad of paper.  Monthly income is recorded here as well as spending categories like groceries, gas for the car, and meals at a restaurant.
3.  Meet weekly with the other adults in your household to review the spending this week.  Update the Excel spreadsheet with what you've spent so far this month and what's left until the end of the month in each category.  If you spend $300 per month on groceries and you've spent $150 by the middle of the month, you know you have $150 left in that category for the rest of the month.  If it looks like there will be a short-fall in a category, talk with your partner about how best to handle it.

This is such a simple system, but it works!  I've used it for almost 20 years and it has helped me stay on track even when income has been low and expenses high.

Call To Action:

Start tracking your daily expenses this week!