Secrets to Saving: Track Your Expenses

Oct. 5, 2010 — -- Do you want to save money but you're not sure how to start?

Keep a record of your expenses. What you save falls between two activities and their difference: how much you make and how much you spend. Because you have more control over how much you spend, it's wise to take a critical look at your expenses.

Write down everything you spend your money on for a couple weeks or a month. Be as detailed as possible and try to not leave out small purchases. Assign each purchase or expenditure a category such as rent, car insurance, car payments, phone bill, cable bill, utilities, gas, food, entertainment.

Get in the habit of recording every expense and saving the receipts. Sit down once a week with your small notebook and receipts. Record your expenses in a larger notebook or a spreadsheet program.

Mint.com is a great site for online budgeting. It has you put all your accounts into the computer and it ultimately analyzes all of your spending. There are also many apps you can download to your phone that will help you keep track of your expenses.

Take a good, hard look at your spending records after a month or two has passed. You'll probably be surprised when you look back at your record of expenses: $300 on ice cream, $100 on parking tickets? You'll likely see some obvious cuts you can make.

Depending on how much you need to save, however, you may need to make some difficult decisions. Think about your priorities and make cuts you can live with. Calculate how much those cuts will save you per year, and you'll be much more motivated to pinch pennies.

CLICK HERE for more money-saving tips from Wikihow.com/Save-Money.