How do you track your cash spending and avoid impulse buys?

The real first step, before apps or spreadsheets is to make the decision to save for something and to have a motivating factor behind it. Otherwise, all the apps in the world won't end up saving you money over the long term.

If you have an understanding of your cash flow then you can pay yourself first Meaning - money flows to savings and investments as soon as you're paid. Then bills and essentials. From there after everything is taken care of you know what you have for fun money. If you don't have enough for a purchase then keep a fun money account to save up for something bigger so that you aren't dipping into savings without a good reason.

When creating a cash budget, the key is to make provision for every single category of expenses, including personal entertainment. If you want to spend impulsively on an item not budgeted for, then it should come from your personal entertainment. Once it's exhausted, that's it! The goal is to ensure you allocate enough for the important things and a portion for satisfying your immediate cravings.

Setting a cash budget can be hard in the technology era. I personally withdraw my weekly budget from the ATM. Research found that the physical act of cash withdrawal and mindfully spending it while shopping and buying every day item can contribute to higher awareness around budgeting, saving and investing. When you tap, you don't really feel that you spent any money, you just waived your phone!

I’ve been budgeting for over 20 years it’s written down on an excel spreadsheet I take out a few hundred dollars monthly for my spending ( gas, groceries) and I cook daily. And I also take out two hundred dollars extra to put up in my rainy day fund( vacation, auto expense, emergencies). The rest of my check goes to monthly bills, savings, 401k. My goal is to be debt free before I turn 60… house and car are paid off. Rent my house out.. and continue to travel!

Budgeting is one part; the next month's important aspect is to track your daily spending in order to be able to compare the budget with actuals and to ensure you are in line with your financial targets.

My TOP 3 Budgeting Tips: 1). I have a separate account that I transfer money for our basic expenses, like gas and groceries. I call it the “Lunch Money” account. If there is money left, I can splurge on dining out or save up for a special treat. 2) Additionally, I regularly monitor what I am subscribed to and assess if it is something we need or not. These expenses sneak up on you and are easy to forget about. You may even find you aren’t benefiting from them anymore. 3) To avoid impulse buying, I put things in my online cart and leave them there for a week. If I still don’t need them after a week, then I can probably live without them. These are my TOP 3 tips to save money, manage my budget, and avoid impulse buying.

I personally like using Mint.com to track the actual income and expenses. This tool allows to do it relatively easy by connecting your credit card(s) to the app. Then you assign a category to all your incoming and outgoing transaction and review it on a regular basis. This allows you to decide what transactions and in which category are either within the budget or exceed it. The rest is up to you as to when and what action to take.

My silver bullet is to start tracking cash spending and avoiding impulse buys can be challenging, but with the right strategies, it becomes much more manageable. Start by setting a clear budget for your spending, dividing your expenses into categories such as groceries, entertainment, and savings.

One has worked for me overtime; - Curate a format on Excel sheet or a personal log book (whichever resonates with you) - Budget by "Highlighting" what you plan to spend. This way, you have an overview of your cash flows and expenses.

Many of our clients like using an app to track expenditures. This can also be done through an excel spreadsheet. The best expense tracking app is one that you will actually use and stick with. Typically, some attributes to look for are: - Ease of use - Reliability - Accessibility - Low (or no) cost - Sustainability It's important to track your expenses in order to get an accurate picture of your cashflow. Then you can have a better idea of where your money is going and what you have left over to allocate towards your goals.

Tracking your cash spending is a good way of budgeting but you need also to compare month to month how you are spending money. This will help you understand where your money is going on both short and long terms and make adjustments as you go.

I recommend avoiding triggers and planning ahead when trying to avoid overspending. While we can never fully plan for a situation, it's important to understand yourself and the specific actions that could trigger unintentional spending. For example, if you're heading to the grocery store for groceries, then don't arrive hungry and bring a grocery list. Understand that your situation has an influence on your decisions and attempt to make choices beforehand to mitigate risks that would cause you to overspend.

Few things I found helpful: 1- dont shop when you are hungry 2-remove all 1 click buy apps from your phone 3-invest before you spend and ideally in an automated app.