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Tracking

February 3rd, 2013 at 06:20 pm

I keep being reminded that tracking is key--to money and to weight loss. I understand that, but I still sometimes wonder about it. It gets kinda old doing the tracking. I'm an online weight watchers member, so we're supposed to track every single bite of food.

I understand that it makes you accountable and you can see what you've eaten. You evaluate what you're eating to see if it is worth the points.

It is the same with money. Writing it down might make you say "hmmm, that latte wasn't worth it this time."

However, the dark side is that if you go off the rails, you stop tracking altogether. Have a major shopping spree and you just don't feel like tracking all you've spent. Have a big night out for dinner and you don't log it. The other part is that maybe you do track, but then get discouraged because you've just blown your budget.

I posted my monthly budget numbers and showed that I went over on almost every single category. Sounds bad. I felt bad for a little while, until I realized that I live mostly on cash. So I don't have a big credit card bill to look forward to. That's the good news.

So how important is it to track, really? If I'm spending cash and only the cash that I have budgeted to take out, is it as important to track? I like reading others' tracking, so I do want to keep up, but I need to adjust my attitude. I don't want to look at this as a pass/fail situation. More of a learning situation, where I can keep an eye on my numbers and tweak them to reflect my real life.

Posted in Budgeting | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Tracking”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    February 3rd, 2013 at 06:35 pm 1359916550
    1359916550

    I think it is even more important to track when you are using cash. When you use a debit card, checks, or credit card, you have the ability to go back and see where you spent money. With cash...unless you track it, all you know is that you spent all of it or have some left over.

  2. snafu Says:
    February 3rd, 2013 at 09:43 pm 1359927781
    1359927781

    If you're staying within budget in designated categories you are tracking spending. If you're spending more than budgeted in most/all categories you are better served by knowing where the cash went. If you've spent in areas that you don't believe have given value you might decide to skip that expensive latte or too expensive dinner out next time. You might choose to buy a steak & trimmings at the grocery and create an awesome dinner for less than 1/2 the cost.

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