Rich or poor, budgeter or freespender, most people care where their money goes. Money is earned, generally by hard work, and seeing it leave your hands at uncontrolled rates is, well, painful and often regretted.
As a quick exercise, try to list out where your disposable income went last month. If it all went to a large purchase, you'll know the answer. If not, if your leftover money went to a ton of random items, my guess is that you'll only be able to account for a small portion (i.e. you have no idea where your money went!).
The latter case mentioned above, where you have no idea where the cash went, is absolutely counter-productive to just about any financial goal you can think of. Most people want to take vacations, upgrade appliances, etc., but, most fail to plan. Have you tried, and failed, to force yourself to budget? Do you think you’re just no good at managing your money?
All you need is the #1 tool in the canny consumer’s tool kit: a spending log.
What’s a spending log? A spending log isn’t that big chunk of wood you threaten to beat your partner with every time they splash out on something totally unnecessary (that’s the “spending stick”…). A spending log is a record of how much you spend, when, and on what. Your log can be as simple as jotting down a few figures in your diary or as complicated as a spreadsheet with rows and columns for every item you purchase and the precise time of day. For most of us, something in between will suit.
Creating your spending log Either in your favorite spreadsheet program or on paper, draw up a grid with these categories as column headings:
- Bills (this covers rent, electric, gas, water, car payments etc)
- Groceries (anything you buy to eat/drink at home)
- Household (toiletries, cleaning stuff, domestic appliances)
- Travel (bus, train or plane fare, petrol)
- Entertainment (CDs, books, magazines, meals out, days out)
- Misc (anything else, eg. buying gifts)
You might want to include more detailed categories, such as “Lunch” if you tend to buy lunch out, “Charity” if you give regularly to charities, “Loan repayments”, “Studying”, and so on.
In the first column, write “Date” then put each day on a separate row:
Mon, Sept 1st
Tues, Sept 2nd, etc.
It’s up to you whether you fill your log in on paper or on the computer. The advantage of using a spreadsheet program is that you can automatically total your spending for the day/week/month, or your monthly spending across different categories. But you might find you’re better at regularly filling in a paper log as you can easily carry it with you.
Filling in the spending log Each day, sit down and enter what you’ve spent into your log. Put some details that will be useful to you when you look back over the log – that might mean having a “notes” column if you’re using a spreadsheet on your computer. For example, if you’ve entered a figure in “Entertainment”, you might want to record exactly what you bought.
Enter large bills on the date which they go out of your bank account – this will help you when you’re looking at cashflow.
There are some occasions when it’s very hard to keep accurate track of spending – for me, this is usually at a bar or restaurant! The best method is to take out a set amount of cash at the start of the evening, and only spend that, rather than using a card. Afterwards, you can see how much you’ve spent at a glance.
At the end of a week…After you’ve been keeping your spending log for a week, think about whether you’re spending habits have been affected at all.
Are you more conscious of what you’re spending, because you’re writing it down? Were there things you were tempted to buy, then didn’t? Just like
keeping a food diary to track your eating, the very act of writing down your spending can help you reduce it.
At the end of a month…Once you have a full month recorded in your log, start doing some analysis. Have a look at
- What you spent in total that month
- Which category was the most expensive and which was least expensive
- Any unusual expenses (weekends away, parties, large payments)
Most people are surprised how much they spend in certain categories. You’ll probably be able to identify areas where you could save money; perhaps cutting down on entertainment items, or buying your groceries more economically. If you have to travel most days by bus or train, a monthly ticket will almost certainly work out more cheaply than a daily one.
Challenge yourself to save $100 next month – figure out where you can cut back in order to afford that, and put that $100 aside into a savings account (or even take it out of the bank in cash and keep it in a money box) at the start of the month so that you don’t end up spending it.
Have you ever kept a spending log? Did you find it effective in helping you to spend more consciously, save up, or understand where all your money was going?
Ali
译文:
保持开支日志，看看你的钱究竟花去了哪
|  阿里海尔 .在2008年8月24日在她的博客里为繁忙的人们写的办公室饮食
| 摄影： 杰夫渴望 |
富人还是穷人，借贷者或无债人，大多数人都会关心他们的钱究竟花向了何处。钱通常是辛苦劳动所挣，如果眼睁睁地看着它在你手中毫无节制地流走件让人扼惜和追悔莫及的事。
做一个快速测试，试图列出你上个月扣除税后的可支配收入。如果都是些大笔的开支，你会知道答案了。如果不是这样，你的钱花在了一些随机物品上，我猜测，您只能算出一小部分（即你不知道你的钱去了哪了）。
上面提到的后一种情况，如果你不知道钱花到何处，那么你能想到的财政目标绝对是适得其反。大多数人想要休假，升级设备等，但大多最终失败。你尝试过实施你的预算可最终失败了吗？你认为你只是在没有很好的管理你的钱吗？
所有你需要的是精明的消费者的工具包里＃ 1的工具——支出记录。
什么是支出记录？
消费日志并不是大块的当你的同伴买些完全没必要的东西时威胁你的大棒，（这是“支出大棒” ... ）。消费日志记录的是你花了多少，几时花的，买了什么。你的日志可以很简单：将记下几个数字或复杂的电子表格的行和列的每一个项目和购买的确切时间。对我们大多数人来说，介于两者之间是最合适的。
创建你的的支出记录
无论是你最喜爱的电子表格或是纸张，都可以制定一个与这些类别栏标题的网格：
· 票据（这包括房租，电，煤气，水，汽车付款等）
· 杂货（任何你想在家喝或吃的东西）
· 家居用品（化妆品，清洁用品，家用电器）
· 旅游（公共汽车，火车或飞机票价，汽油）
· 娱乐（光盘，书籍，杂志，在外吃饭，在外约会）
· 杂项（别的，例如。买礼物）
你也许想加入更多的细节，如“午餐”如果你倾向于在外购买午饭， “慈善”如果你定期向慈善机构捐款， “贷款还款” ， “学习” ，等等。
在第一栏写“日期” ，然后把每天作为单独的行：
周一， 9月1日
周二， 9月2日，等等
把日志写在纸上或电脑上取决于你。利用电子表格的优势是，它可以自动帮你排出支出天/周/月的总额，或者你每月花费在不同的类别的金额。但是，你可能会发现你你会更加定期地写在纸上，因为它能随身携带。
填补开支日志
每一天，坐下来，把你这一天的消费输入到开支日志中去。把一些细节添进去将帮助你回顾日志-这可能意味着如果你在计算机使用电子表格就有必要添上“说明”一栏。例如，如果您已经创建了 “娱乐” 一栏，你就会准确记录你都买了些什么。
输入大比账单输出的日期，这样能帮助你查看资金的流向。
也有一些时候很难保持正确的支出-对我来说，这通常是在酒吧或餐馆！最好的方法就是在开始的前一个晚上取出一笔钱，然后只花这笔钱，而不是使用信用卡。此后，你可以一目了然看到你花了多少钱了。
在一个星期结束后...当你一直保持自己的支出记录一个星期，想一想你的消费习惯是否已在所有受影响。你是否更加意识到因为你写了日志使得你知道自己是怎么开支的？是否有东西诱惑你购买，然后你却没有买？ , the very act of writing down your spending can help you reduce it.就像保持食物的日记来追踪您的饮食一样，实实在在地写下你的开支可以帮助您降低它。
到了月底...一旦你在日志里有了整整一个月的记录，你就可以开始做一些分析。看看
· 你一个月的总消费
· 哪一类是最昂贵的，哪些是最便宜的
· 任何意外的费用（周末以外，聚会，大笔开支）
大多数人都会为他们在某些类别上的大笔开支感到惊讶，你可能能够确定在哪些项目上可以省下一笔钱，也许削减娱乐项目，或购买更经济的食品。如果您经常乘坐公车，火车出行，那么月票将会你日票节省很多钱。
挑战自我下个月省下100美元-找一找在哪些项目上你能省出这笔钱，并把1 00美元放到储蓄帐户上（或在月初可以从银行领出现金放到钱箱里），这样你就不会用它了。
你有没有保持支出记录？你发现它能帮你更加有效，自觉，心中有数地知道钱话去哪了吗？
阿里