If you’ve ever wondered, “Where did all my money go?”, you’re not alone! Those little expenses can add up fast if you’re not paying attention and wreak havoc on your finances. Ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away. One of the best ways to improve your spending habits is to track every dollar you spend. I’ve created a free printable expense tracker templates that you can get for free in this post. Taking a few minutes every day to fill out your spending tracker is an easy first step to improving your financial habits.
Find out how to use your own free printable expense tracker and get the free printable below.
Table of Contents
How This Expense Tracker Works
The tracker is designed to give you a clear picture of your spending habits. Each entry includes the date, a description of the expense, the amount spent, and the payment method (cash, debit, credit, or other). But what makes it extra useful is the categorization columns. For each purchase, you will track if the expense was a need, a want, a bill, or an impulsive buy. By visually marking each expense, you start recognizing patterns in your spending that might otherwise go unnoticed.
How to Use an Expenses Tracker Template
- Date Column: Begin by entering the date of each expense in the designated column. Accurate date recording ensures chronological tracking of your expenditures.
- Description Column: Briefly describe the nature of each expense in this column. Whether it’s groceries, utilities, or leisure activities, jot down a concise description to categorize your spending.
- Amount Column: Record the precise amount spent for each expense. Attention to detail here ensures accurate financial tracking and analysis.
- Notes Column: Utilize the notes section to include any additional details or reminders related to the expense. This space is ideal for specifying purpose, relevance, or any noteworthy observations.
- Payment Mode Column: Check off the appropriate boxes to indicate the mode of payment for each expense. Whether you paid in cash or used a credit card, this feature adds clarity to your financial records.
Pros of using Tracker Effectively
- Log every purchase. Whether it’s a cup of coffee or your monthly rent, write it down!
- Be honest about Expenses. If something was an impulse buy, acknowledge it! Seeing impulsive spending in writing can be a real eye-opener.
- Review at the end of the month. Use the Monthly Spending Review page to reflect on where your money went, how much you saved, and what changes you want to make.
- Set financial goals. Once you start to notice trends, like overspending on dining out, you can set a goal to cut back in that area next month. Sometimes you might decide to increase your monthly budget for that category instead, so you can better anticipate and prepare for that expense each month. It’s ok to give yourself permission to spend money too. Just be sure to include that in a budget so you can prepare for it.
Why This Expense Tracker Printable is a Budget Must-Have
Using an app on your phone or computer can feel overcomplicated or make you feel disconnected from your money. For me, a physical paper tracker encourages me to slow down a little, engage with my spending habits, and take more responsibility. Writing each expense down is truly eye-opening!
A Real-Life Example
Imagine you’re planning a Disney trip (because let’s be real, I’m always planning one!). You use the tracker for a month and realize you’re spending $150 on takeout and coffee each week. By cutting that in half, you’ve saved over $300 in a month! That money can go toward your Disney fund instead!
Reflecting on Your Spending Habits
Tracking your purchases and expenses is the first step to improving your financial habits. One of the most important steps is taking the time to review your spending each month. I’ve also included a Monthly Spending Review page that you can use to break down your spending and take a moment to analyze your habits. Questions like: “How much did I spend impulsively?”, and “What purchases do I regret or feel guilty about?” can help you make small, changes that add up over time.
Get Started Tracking Your expenses with the free PDF
If you’re looking for a simple way to manage your money, this expense tracker template is a great place to start. Download it, print it out, and start tracking today! You might be surprised at what you learn about your own spending habits—and how much easier it becomes to reach your financial goals.
Request Your Free Printable Expense Tracker Templates:
Choose from our easy-to-use and stylish free printable expense tracker template to help you with expense management.
I like to keep my personal finance in top shape using a budgeting binder, and you’ll find these right here on our website, which includes expense templates and many other useful money management templates.
All of our templates can be used to help you track and log your finances throughout the entire year and are undated so you can start using them at any time.
More tips on using an expense tracker
These printable expense trackers have been designed to be used monthly, so use a fresh one for every month going forward. You can also use different designs for tracking your personal and business expenses separately.
Tracking Personal Expenses
Tracking your expenses is a great way of making sense of your spending habits.
Your monthly expenses will differ from month to month but many of your bills will be a fixed amount and others may only vary slightly.
Personal expenses you might track could be:
- Groceries
- Subscriptions
- Fixed payments such as rent, mortgage, car loan, and child support
- Utility bills
- Gas / petrol
- Entertainment
- Credit cards (credit cards can be a good way of boosting your credit score but make sure you can pay them off – check out our debt tracker templates to learn more).
Look through your bank accounts to get an idea of what you spend monthly. You might find that you can cut costs by canceling certain payments such as subscriptions.
Explore more free printables and templates
We’ve created a huge amount of these budget planner templates that will help you manage your budget better than ever. Be sure to grab as many as you can along with our many other money management printables while you’re here.
Remember to look through the rest of our planner printables, we’ve got printables for every aspect of your money and your life!
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