One of the things I always keep in mind is the phrase you can't manage what you don't measure. That was the statement my former professor would use to remind us how crucial it is to gauge our students' understanding before and after class discussions. With time, I understood that I could also use this phrase to reflect on my financial situation. The first step is to be aware of where my money goes.
The past few months wrecked my budget. Travels after travels, food trips after food trips. To justify my careless spending, I have probably already convinced myself a thousand times that I deserve such things. As a result, I am financially blind since I am unaware of my recent financial activities. I wish I had kept track of them. The idea of the money I could have saved haunts me.
This time, I made the decision to be more intentional regarding my financial situation. I decided to start by keeping track of my expenses.
I used to install different applications as my money tracker, but nothing worked how I desired it to, so I opted to do it the Cthings way~.
I mainly use Notion, Microsoft Excel, and Google Sheets to track my finances. This way, I could try out several approaches to determine the most effective for me.
October 2022 - Week 1 Expenses (Oct 1 - Oct 7)
As you can see, I spent ₱2,102.80 in total just last week. Where did my money go?
I spent ₱1684.80 on Grab Food Deliveries. I'm not sure I was that hungry at the time! I should've consumed what was available at home. A snack that costs more than 800 pesos is definitely pricey. My excuse? After such a long, exhausting day, I deserve a treat. Oh well!
I spent ₱119 on PC Game Pass. Truth be told, I neglected to keep track of my bills, which is what caused this one. I was supposed to unsubscribe from PC Game Pass, but somehow I forgot! Ugh.
My sister asked for ₱200 because she'll go out with her friends. She has her allowance, but she asked for extra money. Big sis to the rescue!
Payment for Google storage is included in my monthly bills. I use Google as a backup in addition to my hard drive backup.
After entering my expenses in Notion, I import the data into my Google Sheet Tracker.
I can see an overview of my expenses on my Google Sheet Tracker. Every time I enter my daily expenses, the monthly total for each category is automatically reflected.
I organize my expenses according to whether they're fixed or variable.
Fixed expenses are the ones that have the same specific amount per month. An example is my Google Storage fee, which is fixed at ₱89 per month. Bills and Transportation are under this category.
Variable expenses vary - the amount changes from time to time. An example is the grocery category, as the cost of groceries is determined by the products I purchase. Under this category are Food, Fambam, Personal, Fun, Grocery, and Travel.
Food (lunch outs, food deliveries, snacks)
Fambam (my contribution at home, random dates, and gifts for my family)
Personal (clothes, shoes, decor, hobbies, etc.)
Fun (dates with my partner and friends)
Travel (planned and unplanned travel expenses)
Grocery (random grocery shopping)
My Google Sheets expense tracker indicates that I already spent a lot of money on food this first week of October. That value already serves as a reminder that I need to keep food spending to a minimum. Oh, I really hope I can. Life is food!
It feels strange to see how much money I've been spending on a certain thing, like food, after not keeping track of my expenses for months! Ganun ba ako katakaw?
I will keep a closer eye on my expenses until the end of the month to see which categories I could tweak a little or a lot to save more money.
Thanks for reading~
Images are screenshots of my trackers in Notion and Google Sheets
Cover image edited on Canva
