How to track your expenses on a daily basis

The ability for someone to control his or her finances is a skill that sadly not many of us are taught. However, it is a skill that can be quickly learned and mastered with basic practices and the right frame of mind.

Begin with reminding yourself why tracking your finances is so vital to your current and future wealth. The money you have affects on where and how you live, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the vacations you take, and the people you are able to assist financially. It is very important to start tracking your finances in order for any of these avenues to change.

If you are unable to manage your current finances, then it will be impossible for you to handle your future wealth, so start tracking where your income is going on an annual, monthly, and daily basis. Tracking can range between the simple act of saving bills and receipts and writing them down in a notebook to the slightly more complicated process of buying and setting up a budget helping computer program. It is central to be completely honest while tracking, no matter how silly or embarrassing the purchase may seem, because you are only harming yourself and your future wealth.

While you are tracking, take note of the unnecessary places your money is going and cut them out of your spending routine. Small daily expenses really add up over time so changing your weekly buying habits will greatly affect your annual budget. You will most likely have to limit your spending now in order to expand it later on.

Financial experts say, tracking your finances by living within the budget you create and by cutting up your credit cards. Pay with cash for a while, considering statistics show that consumers spend a good deal less at stores and restaurants when they pay with cash rather than when they swipe a card.

Finally, attempt to save at least ten percent of your monthly income to build a secure financial wall around yourself. Money experts suggest having at least six months worth of income saved in case of losing job or some other unforeseen disaster. After you have the six months worth of money stored away, you can use the ten percent, or more, you are saving to invest in different endeavors. Even just letting your money sit in a savings account accrues interest and allows you to control the growth of your finances.