How many of you keep detailed spreadsheets of your expenses each month? I am just curious since i am thinking we should start keeping records too and see where we spend how much. Any stories here, successful or otherwise?
Yes, I do :). In excel spreadsheet we manage our monthly expanses like mortgage, rent, grocery, gas, electricity, water, cable, telephone and others (gifts and other shopping) etc.
It helps us to manage per month expanses, so we can handle it easily and obviously helps how many bills we paid and how much we have to pay.
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i always want to do it but somehow haven't done it yet.. jia..can you send me a sample of yours so that i can have a better idea abt it ??
ok, pm me yours e-mail so I can fwd it to you.
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I have always done it...kept a record of all expenses,every month...utilities/mortgage/groceries and misc.expenses...charge cards/credit cards etc....
but i do it in a journal like thing...i find it easy to manage...:)
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i've kept one for about 7 years since i was 18 or thereabouts. obviously it became more and more important as i got older, started earning and spending and since i use my debit card for pretty much everything now. i update it every few days with my spending so that i can see how much i'm spending as the month progresses and it's usually bang on with my statement. i also forecast months with my fixed expenditures etc.
i think it's important to keep track of how much you spend, where you spend it etc and to forecast how much you will save given your average spending. and since i put more of my own details in about what i've bought than appears on my statements, it can be really helpful later on.
there are also programs out there that have everything in terms of letting you manage multiple accounts, credit cards, categorise everything, even scan in your receipts so that you have a record of them.
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wow you guys are good. i always get a surprise when i receive our bank statement
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I have nothing to spread because all sheets are closed...no money...all lost...zero/zero... :)
PS: Never stop smileing. :) [Ana Ivanovic]
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My husband used to keep records of his finances before marriage but we created a new excel spreadsheet data file which is more organized and shows weekly, monthly, quarterly expense, savings, and salary totals. I'm so glad we created it, it really helps us to see how we are managing our money! :)
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Thank you for your replies guys.
CA, that sounds so organized 
I am trying to create a breakdown of our expenses and its hard because i have forgotten where in teh dept store i spent what money on a certain date, whether it was personal for makeup etc or for a gift for someone. So i need a better system for that.
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i want a sample spread sheet PLEASEEEEEEE