Track your transactions.
Ready for a big budgeting secret? You have to track your transactions. All of them. When you make money, track that into your income. When you spend money, track that into the right budget line. Your budget isn’t a robot vacuum. You can’t hit an on switch and forget about it. (Or maybe it is like a robot vacuum. Because if you don’t do a lot of work before you hit that on switch, you know it’ll suck up every doll shoe and Lego in the house.) The point is this: You can’t just set and forget your budget. You’ve got to get in there and keep up with it. Know where you stand on your spending and keep things organized by tracking your expenses. All month long.
Have a miscellaneous budget line.
Even when you’re planning out your budget every month with the absolute best intentions, let’s face it—surprises pop up. Also we’re human, so we forget stuff! One great way to stay ahead of both of these truths is to have a miscellaneous line in your budget. When your kid brings home a field trip permission slip and needs $25 to go to the local owl sanctuary, you can use that miscellaneous line. Or when it’s 3 a.m. and you remember you signed up to bring the apple pie to celebrate Pi Day at work, just hit the store on the way in and track the expense to that miscellaneous line. It might be hard to spell, but the miscellaneous line is easily one of the best ways to keep your budget from going off track when things don’t go 100% according to plan.
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