Learn How to Track Expenses That Will Change Your Budget! Free Printable Expense Tracker

The Savor and Savvy Free Expense Tracker Printable is one page in the Mini Financial Binder we created to start the New Year off with a bang! The beginning of the year is a natural time for people to start looking over their budget and planning for how to get ahead with their finances.

We’re all in this together and we’ll get it done! Since you’re reading this, it is safe to say that you are serious about getting your finances in order and are looking for some free printables to make life a bit easier. We have all the tools ready for you.

We all need a good visual on where our money is going. It helps to see where you spend money and is the first step to help make decisions on what to change.  

💡 How to Use

The Expense Tracker is used to track each and every expense that comes through your household each month. You will be tracking the power bill, phone bill, Netflix, insurance, car payments. Literally every single monthly expense that you have. 

It’s important to note that your out-of-pocket spending is better tracked in the Daily Spending Log.  I view that as discretionary costs like manicures, new shoes, coffee, eating out and movies on the weekends. 

I print the Monthly Expense Tracker (or two) out and keep them by my desk. As the bills come in, I record them on the sheet. It took me a little bit to remember those bills where I use auto payment. Look at your credit card statements and your bank account to find those sneaky expenses. Don’t leave a stone unturned! 

📌 How does the Expense Tracker and the Budget Planner Differ 

I know it can be confusing as to when to use an Expense Tracker vs a Budget Planner! Technically, they work hand in hand. Think about them as a partnership.  

An Expense Tracker is meant to log all of the expenses that come through your household each month. It shouldn’t include the daily spending, just the expenses to run a household. 

The Monthly Budget Planner helps you PLAN the months ahead to get a better visual of how you will be achieving your goals. I prefer to use them hand in hand like I mentioned above but you can do one of two things: 

1. If you are new to budgeting, you should start with the Expense Tracker. Log in all of the expenses is a great visual to show how much you spend on monthly bills! If you don’t know where the money is going, then you have no idea how to budget it. No big deal! We all started somewhere. Track your expenses first! 
2. If you have a decent idea of how your money flows in and out, it is great to start with a Budget Planner printable to PLAN expenses vs earnings. It works great if you have a really good handle on your expenses.  If you don’t then you have a decent probability of getting frustrated and not continuing to budget…that is not what we want! I want you to succeed at this! 

🖥️ Download Printable

Click to download the free expenses worksheet. This is only for personal use.

I recommend pinning this for later to make it easier to find it next month!

💵 Mini Financial Binder

The Mini Financial Binder includes: 

•  Binder Cover Sheet <-FREE!
•  Expense Tracker (this one)
•  Daily Spending Log 
•  Debt Payoff Log Tracker 
•  Monthly Bill Worksheet 
• $1000 Emergency Fund Savings Challenge
•  Yearly Financial Goals (newsletter sign up here)
•  Monthly Financial Goals (newsletter sign up here)

In the next couple of posts, we will cover the Daily Spending Log, Debt Payoff Tracker and Monthly Bill Worksheet. All of these do different jobs and we can show you how they will fit perfectly into your new Financials Binder! 

📎 If you are looking for other awesome printable tools to save money, look no further! Check these out! 

52 Week Challenge – This is an EXCELLENT financial challenge that we have done several years in a row.  It really changed how we spent money. Take a look and see if you can guess why! 

Penny Challenge – Ready to start with small savings goals and get a really get a big bang for your buck? This is the one to jump on NOW! Pennies add up and I will show you how fast it happens! 

Money Envelope Template  – If you haven’t ever heard of the Cash Envelope System, stick around as it’s HOT, HOT, HOT in budgeting right now! The gist is to put in CASH into each envelope to help you budget your expenses. Check it out.  It worked REALLY good for us.

Grocery Comparison Sheet – This free printable tool is great for those that think their grocery store is cheaper or more expensive than other ones. Take it for a ride and see. You might be surprised and save a few bucks along the way.

20 Free Budget Printables – This is my favorite list of free budgeting printables to print off to help you kickstart your best financial year ahead!