Create a spending diary

It's useful to keep an eye on the little things you're spending money on each day but it can be hard to remember everything you've bought and how much it all added up to - especially at the end of a long day. A spending diary is one of the easiest way to keep track of what you’re spending your money on.

• It really is as simple as keeping a little notebook in your purse or pocket and taking note every time you buy something.
  
• Make sure that whenever you buy something (whether it's a magazine, a packet of cigarettes or a bar of chocolate) you write down what you've bought and how much it cost.
  
• At the end of the day or week, use a calculator to work out the total cost of everything you've bought.

After a few weeks of doing this, you might start to notice a few patterns you have in your spending. For example, you might find yourself treating the family to take-aways a bit too often. You'll also be able to get a good idea of how much money per week you're spending on little luxuries.

This could really help you with your household budgeting. The more familiar you are with your spending habits, the easier you’ll find it to make cuts and start saving money if you need to.

You can even download our example spending diary if you don’t have your own notebook to get started with.

If you’re happy with your spending habits, you can go back to Household budgeting to see how to manage all your incomings and outgoings , or you can visit our next section on Understanding your payslip.