Since one of my goals for this year is to save money, I told myself that I should become “OC” when it comes to financial matters so I could track where my money go—every single peso, that is. Before, I would often ask myself, “Saan napunta ang pera ko? (Where did my money go?)” It was only during the last quarter of 2009 that I have decided to use different tools to effectively track my finances.
Before I write about out my “concrete steps” in order to save money, I would like to share with you the five different tools I use to track my cash flow.
- BudgetPulse – Since I am in front of my computer everyday, I use an online personal finance software called BudgetPulse. Among the different online personal finance softwares I have tried, BudgetPulse really suits my needs best. BudgetPulse enables me to organize and track my cash flow, expense, and bank accounts in one place. It also generates sleek charts and graphs based on the transactions I have entered. What I like about BudgetPulse is the “Goal/Savings Tracker” feature. I’m currently saving for a couple things and having a savings tracker is a great way to motivate me to reach my goal. Best of all, BudgetPulse works in any country.
- Planner / Notebook – My Starbucks 2009 Planner was released late and it was left unused. Instead of throwing the planner away, I decided to use it to track of my credit card charges. I prefer using a planner when jotting down expenses because I find it organized this way. My usual entry on the planner includes the store/establishment where the purchase was made, the total amount charged to credit card and the my card’s balance for the current billing cycle. Pretty simple and straightforward.
- Envelopes – I recently implemented the “envelope system” on my cash box. It’s pretty simple—different envelopes for different categories like “Weekly Savings,” “Credit Card Payment,” “Life Savings,” etc. Using envelopes is a great way to organize my cash on hand because I know where my money will go and should go.
- Cellphone – I’m not in front of my computer 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, that’s for sure. I still spend a couple of hours outside the confines of our home. Of course, going out of the house translates to different expenses including but not limited to transportation expense, shopping expense and a whole lot more. When away from my computer, I enter my expenses on my handy and ever reliable cellphone.
- Online Banking Facility – I enrolled all my savings account to the online banking facility of my bank so I could check all my transactions real-time and 24/7. A lot of merchants nowadays accepts payments thru ATM Debit Cards. I often use my ATM card to pay for my expenses since I’m not patient enough to line up and withdraw cash from ATMs. When I get home, I could easily track my transactions through my bank’s online banking facility, which is really reliable.
I know this is a bit too much, but I just wish I could sustain being “OC” about financial matters throughout the year. Being able to track where every single peso go would enable me to determine which of my many expenses should I limit in the future. I took an Accounting class in high school and I enjoyed it very much. So, keeping track of my cash flow wouldn’t be that hard, especially now that I use different personal finance tools.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for taking the time to talk to your readers about BudgetPulse. I am so glad to hear you find the value in the software and utilize the savings goals function. That addition came as a direct request from users and glad you are using it. If anyone else has any questions about BudgetPulse, they can directly contact me.
Craig Kessler
Marketing Director at BudgetPulse
craig@budgetpulse.com
Craig,
Thank you so much for dropping by blog and taking time to comment. BudgetPulse has been very helpful in keeping my finances organized.
Great ! good information! I will share this…
@Edmund, thank you very much for taking time to read and comment.
Sana ganun kadami pera ko so that ill enjoy tracking it. hehehe