Everyone says tracking every dollar is the only way to win at budgeting

I found a study from the Journal of Consumer Affairs last month that said people who use a rough monthly allowance save just as much as those who log each coffee purchase. That blew my mind because every finance guru I follow preaches penny-by-penny tracking. They had 400 participants over 6 months and the results were nearly identical. Has anyone else stopped micromanaging and still hit their savings goals?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_chen1713d ago

Yeah exactly, I stopped tracking every single purchase about a year ago and my savings rate actually went up. I just set a monthly spending limit and check in once a week to make sure I'm not way off track. It takes way less mental energy and I'm not constantly feeling guilty about a $4 coffee.

kais6713d ago

Honestly that's kind of where I'm at now too. I noticed I was spending more time staring at my bank app than actually enjoying my money. So I just set one number for fun spending each month and as long as I don't hit it I don't worry about it.