I tracked all of my finances last year, writing down every single item I purchased and tracking my income. As a visual person, I really appreciate my past self for doing the work to track everything. And writing it down on paper works for me. I just know that if I tried to track finances on an app or spreadsheet I would never do it! Points for knowing myself 😉 .
I enjoyed the experience a lot and I believe it’s beneficial in helping curb impulse spending and saving for LIFE stuff. I was able to save for some bigger purchases and pay off some debt. I highly recommend tracking your finances (whether you use a bullet journal or not 😉 ).
Finance Cover Page
It took me quite a long time to layout this cover page but I am thrilled with the end result. I have four sections: goals, budget, categories, and wishlist. Some tasks I want to tackle this year are paying off student loans and starting to save for retirement.
I also have a wishlist where I can remind myself of some bigger items/things I want. For example, I want to go to Europe this summer and buy a digital camera. Looking at this list will help me restrain my other spending because I know I have these long-term wishes.
I categorize each item I spend money on into one of eleven categories. They are:
- beauty (hair products, make-up)
- blog (domain renewal, security, etc.)
- books (including ebooks and audiobooks)
- clothes (including shoes and accessories like bags)
- food (essential groceries/market goods)
- fun (dining out, entertainment, etc.)
- gas
- gifts
- health
- home (office supplies, bujos 😉 , furniture)
- travel
The 50-30-20 budget works in my brain. Basically, 50% is essential expenses (ie. groceries, transportation, housing), 30% is lifestyle choices (dining out, travel, clothes, books, subscriptions, cable TV), and 20% is financial priorities (debt repayment, savings, investment, retirement). At the end of the month, if I spent more then 30% of my income on lifestyle choices, I know I’ll need to cut back the next month.
Year in Review
This page is not artistic by any means but it is useful. I total up everything each at the end of each month. My monthly spending for each of my eleven categories and income. Then at the end of the year, I add up the total for income and each category.
Monthly Spending
I have my spending broken up into eleven categories. The description for what falls under each category is on my cover page. But these are the categories that work for me. I know myself (see above 😉 ) and I need to track how much I spend on books per month. It’s not a crazy amount but it’s something I keep an eye on.
Income and Savings
The nature of my job means my income changes every month. I track “gifts” I receive like bonuses, tax returns, or birthday money, etc. Then I can track the measly amount I make from my blog each month. At this point, it’s about $5.00 and it’s thanks to you being here! I am so grateful every day that my blog is generating anything at all.
Spending Log
What I love about my Archer and Olive journal is that it has two bookmark ribbons. The first I use on my spending log page, while the other with the gold charm marks my weekly place.
The table for my spending log is the exact same as my spending log for 2019. It’s simple and works for me.
This is my spending log for January completely filled in.
I have my pages for the entire year of spending already drawn up. My finances take-up more than twenty pages at the beginning of my journal but I believe it’s well worth it.
The last thing I track in the bottom corner are my bills. Womp, womp haha. But overall, I’m happy with the way these pages turned out. With the color scheme, hopefully it’ll inspire me to make that green 😉 Anyway, thanks for reading. Do you track your finances?
Happy Day-
See my minimalist list bullet journal supplies in this blog post. Some products featured in this post:
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Great set up. I tried a few times already tracking my finances, but I always forget to write some down and then I give up as it does not show me the full picture when I do not track my spending properly.
I get that! I love that my credit card has online banking so I can look up purchases at the end of the week. If I buy something in cash I keep the receipt or write it in the notes on my phone before I transfer them into my journal. Thanks for always supporting my blog! <3
I tried to keep the receipts, but always misplace them 🙁 So maybe I will try your tip with the phone! No problem, I enjoy reading your post. I want to see another short story though! 🙂
Ohh okay! I’ll have to write another and I do have a little bit more time on my hands now 😉
Looking forward to it. I really enjoyed your last one so cannot wait to see another one!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful financial setup! I do have a few questions…
Is the 50 30 20 rule a monthly or a yearly thing?
Could you also explain more about the “ideal and budget” idea under your category? I am a little confused for that..
Absolutely! The 50/30/20 is both monthly and yearly. I ideally spend 50% of my income a month on essential expenses (ie. groceries, housing, etc.). But it goes for the year as well, so I ideally spend 50% of my total income on essential expenses. 30% on lifestyle choices, and 20% for financial priorities like debt repayment and savings. It depends on your job but my income changes monthly (since I do not have a yearly salary) so I mostly use 50/30/20 per month.
The ideal and budget is a section to help me with a monthly spending allowance. So “ideal” for food is 10%. If I make $1,000/month, then my “budget” for food is $100. “Ideal” is for a percentage and “budget” is for a set amount.
I hope that helps!