| I love to keep track of every little detail when it comes | | | | you're gaining over your money by doing this simple |
| to our spending. I want to know at a moment's notice | | | | step, it's really quite fun to do it. |
| how much we've spent on groceries in the past | | | | When I'm ready, I enter the transaction into my |
| month. But since we do a lot of bulk shopping at | | | | Quicken register. When it gets to the category line I will |
| Wal-Mart and the like, we can easily buy groceries, | | | | split it into several. I will add up the total spent on less |
| clothes, diapers and motor oil all at the same time, so I | | | | common items first, usually motor oil and baby things. |
| can't put the entire days spending of $200 down for | | | | Those go in categories for vehicle expenses and baby |
| groceries because we bought more than that. So | | | | stuff. Then I'll add up clothing items and put them in their |
| here's what I do. | | | | own category. By glancing at the receipt I'll realize |
| I save every receipt that deals with a business | | | | everything else is a grocery item so the remaining |
| expense or would contain items that cover multiple | | | | uncategorized total (Quicken does this for you) I |
| categories. Wal-Mart would be a perfect example. | | | | automatically tag to groceries. It's all quick and easy. |
| That receipt gets tucked into the back of my | | | | By doing this so regularly I know exactly how much I |
| checkbook until I'm ready to sit down in front of | | | | spent on groceries ($120 this month) instead of thinking |
| Quicken and itemize everything. It's really not a | | | | I spent $200 (because the rest were for other items). |
| headache. When you figure out how much control | | | | |