Mint
The first way that you can review your expenses is by using Mint.com. Mint is a free financial website where people can link all of their financial info in one place. I’ve been using Mint for nearly two years now, and I don’t have a single complaint. Mint has a great app that you can download to your smartphone. You can use it to review your transactions wherever you’re at. Several features help you see what your expenses.
One feature shows you your different transactions. It showed you when the transaction happened, and it gives you a brief description. Another feature that I love is that every Sunday, they send a notification to my phone that is titled weekly summary. The summary shows every expense that you had in the previous week. There is also a chart that shows you the spending by each day. That detail will help you if didn’t remember something.
The only thing that Mint doesn’t do is show you expenses that you paid cash for. There is an option for you to go back and manually add them to transaction area if you want to.
Transaction Register
Another way to review your expenses is to use a transaction register. This might be old school to some people, but I still love doing this. It takes less than 20 minutes a day to list the transactions in the register. That’s nothing if you want to make sure that your expenses are correct. Tracking your transactions in a register might take some discipline, but I guarantee you will thank yourself for doing it. To get started, head to your local bank or credit union and ask them for a register. They are free and should have no problem giving you one.
Bank Statement
Checking your bank statements is something that you should often do. It will list transactions including cash withdrawals and card swipes. Your bank statements will show you the truth about your spending habit. If you go over your budget, your bank statement will have that information on there. These days there are two ways to get your bank statements. The first way is to get it sent to you in the mail. The second way is to get it sent to you via e-mail. Whatever way you get yours, make sure you review it. You don’t want to have any surprises.
Jason Butler
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.
Great article Jason. However you do it, just the practice of regularly reviewing your expenses is so important for personal finance. It’s hard to believe how easily spending can get out of hand if we aren’t careful! I’m a big fan of mint.com but very interested to hear that you’re using a transaction register.
When I first started to budget on a serious level, I used to note everything that I bought and how much it cost in a spreadsheet. Up to this day, I’m still doing it. Even if I spend $1.00 on junk food, it gets noted. Sometimes I look back to see how my spending habits have changed and how my expenses have evolved. Money tracking is an important part of the budgeting process.
Mint is terrific, it makes that review so, so easy! I’m a big fan.