subscriptions you do not use<\/strong>.<\/p>\nChartered accountant and financial educator Ketvi Roopnarain recommends keeping things as simple as possible.<\/p>\n
![\"Ketvi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/17142f8fcea6b5a337a1314d0495fd1a.jpeg\")
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Ketvi Roopnarain says tracking what is coming in versus what is going out is key. (Supplied: Serena Betti)<\/p>\n
If your household is defined as just you and your partner, and you haven’t previously tracked spending or followed a budget, she says “anchoring” the effort to something fun like a trip overseas can help.<\/p>\n
“Quite often in couples, there’s one person who decides, ‘It’s time to look at our numbers.'”<\/p>\n
Reviewing credit card history and bank statements can be quite confronting, especially if it’s something you’re doing together, Ms Roopnarain says.<\/p>\n
Export a period of your financial transactions into a spreadsheet, print out your credit card history and bank statements or look through them together online as part of a “money date<\/strong>“, she suggests.<\/p>\nIt might reveal an expensive Uber habit or a membership to a neglected gym, Ms Roopnarain says.<\/p>\n
Methods for tracking spending<\/p>\n
While Ms Staff is a spreadsheet devotee, she says there are lots of other ways to keep tabs on your spending and earnings.<\/p>\n
“I am absolutely all for people using a system that is going to work for them.”<\/p>\n
There are apps<\/strong> that you can input or allow to access your financial data (such as bank account and credit card transactions) to track your spending, Ms Staff says.<\/p>\nThose who are time or energy poor might find one of these helpful, but many banks offer tools that categorise and track spending for free<\/strong>, she says<\/p>\nMoneysmart also recommends checking what your bank offers.<\/p>\n
Financial hardship resources:<\/p>\n
If a spreadsheet<\/strong> sounds right for you, Ms Staff says some basic familiarity with the software (such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel) will help and you can also use a template to get started.<\/p>\nMs Staff and Ms Roopnarain recommend the Moneysmart resources<\/strong>, which include a budget planner template and easy-to-follow modules.<\/p>\n“Before buying random online templates from anyone who calls themselves an expert, check out independent free resources<\/strong> like Moneysmart,” Ms Roopnarain says.<\/p>\nMs Roopnarain says templates are not for everyone<\/strong> and the key is finding the most “frictionless option”<\/strong>, which could instead be a budgeting tool<\/strong> or an old notebook<\/strong>.<\/p>\nMs Staff says a notebook can be a particularly good option for someone who relies heavily on cash.<\/p>\n
Creating a note in your phone could also help record what cash is coming in and going out, she says.<\/p>\n
This article contains general information only. You should consider obtaining independent professional advice in relation to your particular circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of us track our finances and some of us do not (after all, there’s a long list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1167814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,156066,132400,316967,316969,2499,316970,16,15,316968,316966],"class_list":["post-1167813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-how-to-budget","tag-how-to-save-money","tag-how-to-track-my-spending","tag-monthly-expenses-template","tag-personal-finance","tag-tracking-spending-spreadsheets","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-what-is-the-best-expense-tracking-app-in-australia","tag-whats-the-best-way-to-track-my-expenses"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117154010348654197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1167814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Mia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a665351321741f095c90a0de12545c01.jpeg\")
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