Where Does it All Go? {Day 8 of 21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money}

This is Day 8 of 21 Days of Hope + Help for Your Money, a series providing you encouragement and tips to start the year off on a note of hope. Catch up on previous posts here. For future posts, come back daily or subscribe to have them emailed directly to you.

“To manage your money better, you need to first see where it’s currently going.” — Me 😉

For the past week, we focused on our “why,” mindset, habits, and other things that contribute to our financial behaviors. Spending a little time there before going into the more mechanical aspects of managing our money was crucial because our behaviors play such a significant role in how we deal with money.

Now onto the nitty-gritty…

Have you ever taken $60 or so out of the ATM only for it to be completely gone a few days later? And if you were asked what you spent it on, you might not be able to answer? Sound familiar?

Now, think about that on a larger scale. If you think about what you spend your money on in a month (outside of the biggies like, housing, transportation, and groceries) would you be able to answer firmly? How about for the year?

It’s time to do something about that.

Knowing where your money is going is a powerful step towards taking control of your finances.

Action Step

Track Your Spending

Grab a small notebook (or you can use your phone) and track your spending for the next week. Write down everything you spend your money on, whether it’s cash, your debit and credit cards, or automatic withdrawals from your bank account. Record every expense whether it’s $100 or $1. This is an important first step in managing your money.

And don’t think you need to change anything about your spending for this exercise. There’s no judgment here (yet 😉) — you’re just recording your current spending exactly the way it is. (I know this action step spans more than a day. We’ll be doing other things in the meantime and will revisit your spending.)

Married? Make sure both you and your spouse do this!