Setting a money baseline: How to track your spending without hating it

A simple, no-pressure look at tracking your spending to build financial literacy and see where your money actually goes.

Earning “enough” but never feeling like there’s room to save?

The problem may not be overspending. It may simply be that you don’t have a clear picture of where your money is actually going.

Tracking is how you replace guesswork with a baseline. From there, you can make better decisions towards building financial freedom.

Get the budgeting tool:

And here is the shared budgeting tool:

What you get from tracking 

After a month of tracking, you can usually answer these without drama:

• What does my life actually cost right now?
• Which costs are fixed, and which are flexible?
• Where is my “leak” category: Eating out, deliveries, small daily spends, subscriptions?
• If I wanted to save R500 or R1,000 a month, where could it realistically come from? 

This gives you a starting point. Without it, trying to “budget better” is basically guesswork. With it, you can make clearer, more intentional choices.

Why tracking feels hard and why that’s normal 

Let’s acknowledge the resistance first.

Tracking can feel boring. It can feel like admin. It can bring up guilt, avoidance, or anxiety. Sometimes it highlights patterns you might not have looked at closely before, things like impulse spending, emotional purchases, or gradual lifestyle creep.

That discomfort is not a sign you are doing something wrong. It is often just the feeling of paying attention.

You can also choose not to track. Plenty of people never do and still live financially stable lives. But if you feel stuck, stressed, or simply curious about how your money flows, tracking can be one of the most direct ways to build confidence and financial literacy through real-life awareness.

It doesn’t mean you need a perfect system either. It simply means choosing to look, gently and honestly. 

The simplest way to start

If you do nothing else, do this.

The 10-minute weekly method:

1. Pick one day a week.

2. Open your banking app.

3. Scroll through transactions for the last 7 days.

4. Label each transaction with a simple category: food, transport, home, subscriptions, fun, other.

5. Stop. No analysis yet.

If that feels like too much, choose the lighter version:

• The 3-category method: Essentials, lifestyle, savings and debt

• The notes app method: Write down each purchase for 7 days, no categories

Imperfect tracking beats perfect avoidance.

The goal is visibility.

When tracking is especially useful

Tracking can be particularly helpful in certain seasons of life:

• When your income has changed, and your spending hasn’t quite adjusted yet.
  
  
• When you want to save but are unsure where the money could realistically come from.
  
  
• When you feel “money anxious” without a clear reason.
  
  
• When you are preparing for something ahead, like travel, a move, paying off debt, or starting a business.
  
  
• When your lifestyle has slowly become more expensive, and you would like more clarity.

It can also help if you tend to think in feelings rather than facts. Thoughts like “I feel broke” or “I feel out of control” become easier to work with once they are grounded in real numbers. 

In that sense, tracking is not just about budgeting. It is about building a calm, usable form of financial literacy that helps you understand what is actually happening.

Listen to our podcast, where Murray talks about tracking and how it’s changed things for him.

The mental models that make tracking work

To make tracking feel supportive rather than discouraging, a few mindset shifts can help:

1. Curiosity over judgement: Look at your spending like a researcher, not a critic. You are gathering information, not handing down a verdict.

2. Patterns over incidents: One expensive week does not define your habits. You are looking for trends, not isolated moments.

3. Neutrality over morality: Spending on coffee is not “bad.” Spending on savings is not “good.” Money is a practical tool, not a moral scorecard.

4. Progress over perfection: Imperfect tracking is far more useful than none. You do not need exact categories to start building understanding and confidence.

From awareness to action: tiny shifts that actually work

Once you have tracked for a month, the numbers usually start to tell a story. Not a dramatic one, but a clear one. And that clarity often reveals a few small, low-effort changes that feel doable, for example:

1. The subscription sweep
List every recurring charge, streaming services, apps, gym memberships, software, and delivery passes. Ask:

• Do I use this weekly?
  
  
• Does it still fit my life now?
  
  
• Would I choose it again at this price?

2. The “default spend” reset
Notice where money goes automatically, daily coffee, habitual takeaways, and convenience spending. You might try:

• Reducing frequency
  
  
• Creating a loose weekly cap
  
  
• Swapping one habit for a cheaper version, e.g. making coffee at home a few days a week instead of buying one every morning.

3. The friction add
Make spending slightly more conscious by removing saved card details, unsubscribing from marketing emails, or deleting shopping apps.

4. The value check
Look at your biggest discretionary categories and ask whether they reflect what you actually enjoy and value right now.

5. The one-change rule
Focus on one adjustment at a time and let it settle before changing anything else.

Building clarity that lasts

Tracking is not about control. It is about meeting your money where it is, and building the kind of financial literacy that comes from familiarity rather than fear.

You do not need a perfect system. You just need enough awareness to move from “I think” to “I know,” and from “someday” to “I understand what’s happening now.”

Here are some great tools that can help you get started: 

The simple budgeting tool helps you build the habit of tracking and see clearly what comes in and what goes out each month.

If you manage money with a partner, the shared budgeting tool lets you track your expenses together.

The Wealthbit Financial Freedom Programme™ is designed to help teams grow their financial literacy step by step, so you can understand your money, make informed choices, and feel more at ease with where you stand.

‍