Keeping track of your money means making
sure that you always have an overview of your financial situation.
One way you can do that is to keep a written record of everything
you do with your money. On one side write down how much money
you got - as salary or as benefit - and on the other side how
much you spent. The more detail you include, the better your
record is.
So
if you withdraw £100
from the cash machine, do not just
put down that you withdrew
the money, but also what you did
with it (e.g. buy clothes, go out
for tea,
buy tickets for the cinema). When you
use the cash machine it asks if you
want a printed receipt; you should
say 'yes'
and file it for future reference.
Here you can see what this kind of personal record
could look like:
Now try to make a record yourself. Click the printer icon to
on the left to print out a blank budget sheet (you will need
a printer
attached and switched on). Write down how much money you got
on the one side and how much you spend on the other side. After
listing
everything, add each side up (you can use our pop-up
calculator if you want to).
Now see if your spending is less than your
income. Remember, you should not spend more than you have. You
may also like to take a look at the Budgeting
section.
