I love to keep track of every little detail when it comes to our spending.
I want to know at a moment's notice how much we've spent on groceries in the past month.
But since we do a lot of bulk shopping at Wal-Mart and the like, we can easily buy groceries, clothes, diapers and motor oil all at the same time, so I can't put the entire days spending of $200 down for groceries because we bought more than that.
So here's what I do.
I save every receipt that deals with a business expense or would contain items that cover multiple categories.
Wal-Mart would be a perfect example.
That receipt gets tucked into the back of my checkbook until I'm ready to sit down in front of Quicken and itemize everything.
It's really not a headache.
When you figure out how much control you're gaining over your money by doing this simple step, it's really quite fun to do it.
When I'm ready, I enter the transaction into my Quicken register.
When it gets to the category line I will split it into several.
I will add up the total spent on less common items first, usually motor oil and baby things.
Those go in categories for vehicle expenses and baby stuff.
Then I'll add up clothing items and put them in their own category.
By glancing at the receipt I'll realize everything else is a grocery item so the remaining uncategorized total (Quicken does this for you) I automatically tag to groceries.
It's all quick and easy.
By doing this so regularly I know exactly how much I spent on groceries ($120 this month) instead of thinking I spent $200 (because the rest were for other items).
I want to know at a moment's notice how much we've spent on groceries in the past month.
But since we do a lot of bulk shopping at Wal-Mart and the like, we can easily buy groceries, clothes, diapers and motor oil all at the same time, so I can't put the entire days spending of $200 down for groceries because we bought more than that.
So here's what I do.
I save every receipt that deals with a business expense or would contain items that cover multiple categories.
Wal-Mart would be a perfect example.
That receipt gets tucked into the back of my checkbook until I'm ready to sit down in front of Quicken and itemize everything.
It's really not a headache.
When you figure out how much control you're gaining over your money by doing this simple step, it's really quite fun to do it.
When I'm ready, I enter the transaction into my Quicken register.
When it gets to the category line I will split it into several.
I will add up the total spent on less common items first, usually motor oil and baby things.
Those go in categories for vehicle expenses and baby stuff.
Then I'll add up clothing items and put them in their own category.
By glancing at the receipt I'll realize everything else is a grocery item so the remaining uncategorized total (Quicken does this for you) I automatically tag to groceries.
It's all quick and easy.
By doing this so regularly I know exactly how much I spent on groceries ($120 this month) instead of thinking I spent $200 (because the rest were for other items).
Source...