For every spending, there should be savings.

Spending, as we all know, is the easiest part when it comes to making money. I still remember something my mum said last week: “One person does the job, but more than one person spends the money,” and this really got me thinking last week about finance. What are the basic things I spend on almost daily or weekly? And how can I track and reduce my spending if possible?

The most basic things I spend on weekly, if not daily, are data, food, gas, and transportation (every other things are miscellaneous and not recurrent). My finance was one of the few things I want to be able to track and account for this year, so I started putting things in place. Three things that I currently do to track my daily spending, and it has been helping me.

Firstly, I had to create a savings plan in my bank app that I have decided to use to run all my expenses. The savings plan allows me to save as I transact (SAYT), so what this means is that for every transaction I make using my banking app, a particular amount is saved for me. While checking my bank app today, I noticed that I had around 7k saved, and this would have been double the amount if I had double the amount to save, but I am okay with this, as there would be more transactions to be made.

Secondly, I had to develop the habit of writing a description for each transaction I carry out in all my bank accounts. This might seem small or irrelevant, but this has actually helped me because I remember a time when I was going through my account and I was unable to remember what a particular transaction was used for; all I needed to do was check the transaction description. This has saved me a lot of mental stress that would have been wasted on trying to remember what that money was for.

Thirdly, like my TL always says, “document the process.” I had to develop the habit of writing down my expenses either on an Excel spreadsheet or in a book. This was the hardest part for me because I don’t always carry my book, and I always forget to add to the Excel sheet. I had to make this a part of me, as this was needed in order for my business to grow.

Lastly, I also reduced the amount of cash I hold, and this, in turn, reduces my ability to spend carelessly. I would encourage everyone to try to manage and track their spending, as it would help in developing a good savings habit.

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This is my entry to week 55, episode 02 of the weekly featured contest for reading, and the topic to be discussed is Daily Spending Habits That Affect Our Finances.