Writing down what we actually spend has been one of the most eye-opening habits we’ve ever built. It forces intentionality around where our money goes.
I’ve had a bunch of people ask about our expense tracking spreadsheet, so I figured I’d share (also includes our '25 monthly expenses, family of 4 from Atlanta). Huge shoutout to my wife, who started this before I met her. Because of her, we now have 17+ years of monthly expense tracking, which gives us a lot of confidence in knowing our true costs. It’s also been incredibly helpful in understanding our personal inflation versus headline inflation, as well as how our lifestyle has changed over time.
Our process: Each month, we use a printed sheet that sits on my wife’s desk. She handwrites expenses across about a dozen categories, updating every few days or catching up on the weekend from credit card statements. At month-end, she hands the sheet to me and I enter everything into the spreadsheet. No apps, yes takes 5-10min a week but forces understanding of where our money goes.
Every quarter or so, we review trends, look for meaningful increases, prepare for upcoming annual expenses (insurance, taxes, etc.), and forecast what future seasons of life may cost as the kids grow and eventually move on. For forecasting, I don’t try to guess inflation, I focus instead on real changes, like adding teen car insurance or reducing food and activity costs once kids are out of the house.
Feel free to take this, use it, and improve it, just make the categories fit your life. One key piece of feedback from my wife: less is more when it comes to categories. We used to split things like groceries vs. alcohol or home maintenance vs. toiletries. Fewer categories made it easier, no splitting receipts, just pick one and move on.
You could simplify even further into buckets like:
- Home
- Transportation
- Essentials (food, healthcare)
- Discretionary (self-care, eating out, travel)
- Kids
There’s no perfect system; just find a level of detail you’ll actually stick with. Enjoy!
