Are you asking yourself where did my money go?

At times, we may ask ourselves "where did my cash go?" Even if you have a spending plan, you may not help avoid asking this question. If you don't have a spending plan, you will have less idea of where your cash is going. If you use a credit card or checking account for your purchases, you can figure out from your statements where your money went. On other hand, untracked cash purchases will lead one to believe that his or her money just has disappeared. Take a look at some of the common items that we spend cash on:

A convenient way to loose cash is using a vending machine

• beverages
• books
• car washes
• charities
• cosmetics or beauty parlor
• DVDs, CDs or tapes purchases or rentals
• entertainment
• fast food
• fundraisers
• hobbies
• laundry/dry cleaning
• lottery tickets
• magazines
• meals out
• newspaper
• pets
• picture development
• tobacco
• vending machines
• yard sales

To answer the question as opposed having yourself ask the question, simply start recording your expenses. All it takes is just a few keystrokes (or clicks) or words on a paper.

Use the below shown tracking sheet to record all of your out of pocket expenses. I suggest you use this sheet for at least a month to record your variable expenses such as meals out, tolls, car repair bills, grocery etc. Please use a separate sheet for each month or pay period.

Example: