"Know Where the Money Goes" Challenge

Filed under: Budgets — by Stephanie on August 1, 2008 @ 8:31 am

“Write down every penny I spend? That would never help me.”
“What a waste of time.”
“I already know where all of my money goes.”
“Tracking every purchase is obsessive.”
“Money is the root of all evil - if I pay that much attention to it, it will consume me.”
“I don’t spend any money!”

All of the above are excuses I’ve heard for not following my #1 personal finance tip. I think they’re all crocks. But hey, that’s just my opinion, based on how much tracking my own spending has helped me the past two years.

Want to prove me wrong? Agree with me and want to prove me right? Want to experiment and see if it could help you? Or maybe you’re just the kind of person that likes to take up random challenges you find on the internet?

No matter what your situation, outlook, financial standing, creed, or political affiliation (I’m looking at you, Libertarians!), I want YOU to take part in my “Know Where The Money Goes” Challenge!

Obligatory Uncle Sam Picture 
Obligatory Uncle Sam Picture!

How To Participate

  1. Declare your awesomeness! Post a comment on this entry pledging your commitment to track your expenses (all of them!) for the month of August. Using the word “pledge” somewhere in your comment will help keep it out of the spam filter.
  2. Track everything you buy (and how much you pay for it!) for the month of August.

Yeah, that’s really it. On the 1st of September, I’ll make a wrap-up post and I invite everyone to come back and post comments about their progress.

How should you track your expenses? That’s up to you! I use a combination of an Excel spreadsheet and a piece of paper in my wallet for writing down cash purchases. I’ve heard of many people having success carrying a little pocket notebook and using that. A Smart Phone, PDA, or iPhone will work, if you’ve got one. Heck, carve it into stone tablets if that works for you (but I demand you post pictures!).

Already track your expenses? Sweet! Pledge to… keep on doing that! This should be fun, no matter what. We’ll all encourage each other, remind each other, share techniques… and hopefully brag and boast about how awesome we are.

Added bonus: if anyone asks why you’re writing down everything you buy, you can tell them it’s because some girl on the internet told you to. (To which you’ll probably get the response “There are no girls on the internet!”)

Bloggers: Tell your readers to come on over and take the challenge! The more the merrier!

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44 Comments »

  1. I use Mint.com to track all of my spending. It is easy and free. It is a great budgeting tool.

    Comment by Eric — August 1, 2008 @ 9:11 am

  2. Sounds good - I pledge to do this for the month. I’m pretty good, but could be better. See you in 31 days!

    Comment by Laurel — August 1, 2008 @ 9:18 am

  3. Count me in too! I had been doing it but sorta fell off the Wagon in July (it was my birthday month so lots of celebrating!) Last night I set up my budget envelopes for August and my expense notebook is all set up. I pledged to myself I would track EVERYTHING in August so this challenge is perfect timing. Good Luck everyone. Gail

    Comment by Gail — August 1, 2008 @ 9:48 am

  4. I’m in!

    SavingDiva’s last blog post..A New Book for Harry Potter Fans

    Comment by SavingDiva — August 1, 2008 @ 9:53 am

  5. Sure, I’ll take the pledge. I keep track of everything in Excel already, so I’ll make extra sure that I’m up to date this month.

    Comment by Kimberly — August 1, 2008 @ 10:09 am

  6. I’m in on the pledge. I track non-cash stuff by store already (used to do cash but got lazy) so I’m going all out and am going to track it by item, or at least try to. This ought to be interesting…

    Comment by Becca — August 1, 2008 @ 10:32 am

  7. I’ll take the pledge. I used to keep everything in Quicken, but I became very passive about it. And when it was time to reconcile at the end of the month, I usually had too many “what the heck was that?” purchases that I couldn’t really identify. This challenge is right on time!

    Comment by TwoFish — August 1, 2008 @ 11:19 am

  8. I Pledge to track all my savings for this month of August. Hopefully I learn something good.

    Comment by Gareth Cook — August 1, 2008 @ 11:19 am

  9. I hate tracking expenses and blogging, but the good of the people and for competition sake…I’m in! However, this is going to be a very depressing ordeal when its done. Support group anyone? j/k

    Comment by Lonnie — August 1, 2008 @ 11:35 am

  10. I hate the idea, but in the spirit of competition…I’m in ( I pledge ). I know I’m going to be ashamed of myself when the smoke clears.

    Comment by Lonnie — August 1, 2008 @ 11:39 am

  11. I pledge to keep using my YNAB spreadsheet to record all of my expenses this month.

    Comment by Brenden — August 1, 2008 @ 12:51 pm

  12. I’m so there! I use Buxfer, so it’s super-easy.

    Comment by Millie — August 1, 2008 @ 2:52 pm

  13. I pledge to track all my expenses this month (just like I’ve done for the past couple of years). Why? Because I do it anyway and you pointed at the Libertarians. Someone has to represent!

    P.S. I hate that stupid penny that always gets rounded the wrong way.

    Comment by Slinky — August 1, 2008 @ 2:58 pm

  14. I pledge to track all my expenses this month.I hope I can stick with this habit!

    Comment by Ashley — August 1, 2008 @ 3:12 pm

  15. I’m totally gonna do it to it!
    pledge

    Comment by Ben — August 1, 2008 @ 7:11 pm

  16. I pledge to get back into the habit of tracking every penny I spend.

    E.C.’s last blog post..If you are a renter, you need renter’s insurance.

    Comment by E.C. — August 1, 2008 @ 10:57 pm

  17. I’m so in! I pledge to track all my expenses this month…EVEN cash spending!

    Comment by QL Girl — August 1, 2008 @ 11:46 pm

  18. [...] by Poorer Thank You’s blog…she’s hosting a challenge for August called the “Know where the money goes” challenge. To put it simply, just track every expense you make during the month, and report your [...]

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  19. [...] Than You explains how her “Know Where the Money Goes” Challenge will work. The payoff is a new [...]

    Pingback by My Apologies at This Writer’s Wallet — August 2, 2008 @ 1:45 am

  20. I pledge to keep track of my expenses. I did this for a year, but stopped about 4 months ago. Hopefully this give me some motivation.

    Comment by Phillip — August 2, 2008 @ 1:03 pm

  21. I’m taking the pledge too! I’ve been keeping a budget in a spreadsheet but not keeping track of my spending along the way. At the end of the month, I’m somehow always surprised that my mental tally strategy didn’t work and I went over again!

    This is my kick in the pants to get smarter. So far so good!

    Suzy’s last blog post..Part-Time Professionals

    Comment by Suzy — August 2, 2008 @ 5:01 pm

  22. [...] Than You challenges you to know where your money goes during the month of August by tracking all of your expenses. Hint: Check out the rest of the site, [...]

    Pingback by The MSN Money Effect and Weekly Roundup — Broke Grad Student — August 3, 2008 @ 7:02 am

  23. I actually already planned on doing this for the month of August, since I need to track where I’m spending my money! I already started by saving all receipts and writing down my cash purchases on ATM receipts- mostly I am going to try to use my Amex so this is easier to track. I pledge :)
    diningoncents’s last blog post..Easy Macaroni and Cheese

    Comment by diningoncents — August 3, 2008 @ 5:48 pm

  24. Done it once, but got too frustrated with it to keep going. However, I like the idea of taking up random interwebs challenges so:

    I hereby pledge to keep track of my August expenses. May they be non-existant :D!

    Comment by Yuyato — August 3, 2008 @ 8:44 pm

  25. [...] Than You declares a call to action in “Know Where The Money Goes” Challenge. She wants you to “Track your expenses for one month, and see where it gets [...]

    Pingback by squawkfox » Carnival of Personal Finance: City Slickers Edition — August 4, 2008 @ 7:16 am

  26. I hereby pledge to take responsibilty for my spending…so help me God. No…seriously HELP ME GOD!

    Vanessa’s last blog post..Our Deepest Fear

    Comment by Vanessa — August 4, 2008 @ 12:06 pm

  27. [...] Track EVERY expense for the “Know where your money goes” [...]

    Pingback by July Goals: The Ugly Truth « QuarterLife Finances — August 4, 2008 @ 1:00 pm

  28. I’m doing the pledge too! I just started tracking all my expenses on dimetracker.com I can just send a text to dime tracker and it keeps track of everything for me, then I can export from the site to Excel. So easy!

    Comment by Danielle — August 4, 2008 @ 1:59 pm

  29. [...] Want to improve your finances and have a chance to get an I-Pod Shuffle? Stephanie gives you the 411 for the  “Know Where the Money Goes” Challenge [...]

    Pingback by Weekly Round Up: End of July | Green Panda Treehouse — August 4, 2008 @ 4:36 pm

  30. I’ll take on the pledge. I need a kick in the butt.

    Comment by Niki — August 4, 2008 @ 7:45 pm

  31. I pledge to keep track of my spending this month!

    Comment by Sally — August 4, 2008 @ 7:50 pm

  32. Hey is it too late to join this challenge? If not, I pledge to keep track of ALL my August expenses! Here’s to figuring out where all my money goes!

    Tiffany’s last blog post..3 days late …

    Comment by Tiffany — August 4, 2008 @ 8:47 pm

  33. Funny I should find this, I used to never think it would make a difference, but after realizing how bad my financial situation has become, I knew I needed to do something. I decided to start blogging about my situation in an attempt to make my self own up to my problems. I then figured I should track all my income and expenses to show the world (and myself) that I am actually trying to do something about my situation. This pledge really won’t make much difference to me as that is pretty much what my blog currently is :D
    My Journey From Debt’s last blog post..Eatin’ Out….Again!

    Comment by My Journey From Debt — August 5, 2008 @ 3:05 am

  34. [...] you know 6 easy ways to track your expenses online, you can use your knowledge to take part in the “Know Where Your Money Goes” Challenge hosted by Stephanie at Poorer Than You. Good things can happen when you know where your money [...]

    Pingback by 6 Cool Ways To Track Your Expenses Online — Broke Grad Student — August 5, 2008 @ 7:04 am

  35. [...] Poorer Than You declares a call to action in “Know Where The Money Goes” Challenge [...]

    Pingback by Carnival of Personal Finance #164: City Slickers Edition » American Consumer News — August 5, 2008 @ 12:02 pm

  36. I too will pledge to track my expenses. I do this anyway with a couple of excel sheets so it shouldn’t be hard. I’m going out of town this month so there will be some random cash expenses and receiptes to save.

    Comment by Cora — August 5, 2008 @ 6:25 pm

  37. I’m in- I am trying to rearrange my direct deposit (just paid off my car, hooray!), so this works perfectly. Like your site.

    Comment by Stephanie — August 6, 2008 @ 3:28 pm

  38. I also track my money through Mint.com, but I pledge to track my cash purchases through the month of August!

    Angie’s last blog post..How fitting!

    Comment by Angie — August 6, 2008 @ 5:29 pm

  39. I’ll pledge to track every penny for August — I’m already pretty good about keeping track of my finances, but I want to consciously track everything!

    Comment by KillerRoo — August 7, 2008 @ 10:54 am

  40. I have been keeping track of all cash expenditures for years. The problems I see are: How do you account for utility bills - in what mionth do they go and 2) credit cards. I could miss some of them. I might like to be in this. I woukld submit an ASCII file but you have to tell me how to account for monthkly expensies and interest and the like.

    Comment by Sammy Finkelman — August 7, 2008 @ 3:20 pm

  41. @Sammy - well, that’s something you’ve got to decide for yourself. Most people, I believe, account for expenses in the month that they paid them. So an August utility bill that gets paid in September, gets tracked as “September.”

    Credit cards are tricky. When I was carrying a balance, I wouldn’t write down purchases on the card (well, I would, but separately), and then I would count payments to the card as an expense on my main list. I didn’t keep track of interest on the main list, but I did keep track of it on the separate credit card list.

    Do what works for you! Play with it a bit! No one says you have to start out with the right method, switching is allowed ;)

    Comment by Stephanie — August 7, 2008 @ 6:42 pm

  42. [...] I’d love to hear how you do it. Also, Stephanie over at Poorer Than You is holding a “Know Where the Money Goes” Challenge. 4 You could use this template to know where all that money goes. In case someone will decry this [...]

    Pingback by Budgeting Basics: An Expense Tracker That Works | Budgets |My Family's Money — August 8, 2008 @ 11:00 am

  43. I use Abassis Finance Manager to keep track of every expense I make. I save all the receipts for the day and enter them into the program. The ones I charge with my card has a “pending” status until it has been confirmed on my online banking account.

    I also keep my monthly expenses allocations and net worth goals in excel files.

    It helps me know where my money is going and where I want to go with it.

    Comment by Marv — August 13, 2008 @ 10:47 am

  44. Mid August Review…

    The “wordpress” edition of my blog , is fairly new. I have blogged since I posted my goals for the month of August. It has been a fairly busy month, a close friend of mine was in town for a week. A whole week was spent celebrating the reuni…

    Trackback by My Quarter Life and Beyond — August 19, 2008 @ 7:47 am

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