How are you keeping track of your expenses and budget?

I do a spreadsheet in Excel. Each line is an item/s and I put what I spent on it in the next row. I like using that because I can use the sum function and easily add up how much I have already spent.

We didnt' really have a budget per say. More like I researched everything I could and got prices from all the vendors in our area then we picked the one we wanted to go with. Based off of those numbers I created an expense spreadsheet. Basically just listed out how what it was the estimated price, deposit, then what was left.

example:

VENUE $5000 $750.00 $4250

HAIR $600 $200 $400

CAKE $600 $600

Then I just totaled up the prices left to watch what we had to pay. Once something was paid/purchased, etc. I would take it off of the expense spreadsheet of what we needed to still buy/pay for and I have a spreadsheet of just all wedding costs. Anytime I paid for something/bought something/deposit down I would add it to the list the amount and description, mostly just so at the end I can have that all add together and see what the total cost of the wedding was.

Woah purple kitten that is very detailed!!!

Woah purple kitten that is very detailed!!!

That makes sense Jillian, I think i'll create a simple spreadsheet in google drive because i can access it from my phone very easily and i'll use the ww budgeter as a back up. Thanks girls

I use the WW budget tracker.

I made a budget excel spreadsheet using one of the templates that they offer. It's already set up to calculate and add up the costs once you plug them in. It's great!

I made a budget excel spreadsheet using one of the templates that they offer. It's already set up to calculate and add up the costs once you plug them in. It's great!

I started using that Kate but it was too complicated for me LMAO i'm a little slow with Excel

@SoontobeJB - It's what i do for a living (administer that exact brand of database), so it's sorta cheating. ;-)

@purplekitten HAHA that's great!

Mark me down as another WW. Originally I was using google spreadsheet version from google which is good. But WW is so easy and you can mark payments as being from "self" or "mom" etx so that you can track whose paid what and how much. Since I'm also using it for my guest list, it just made sense.

This is what I made. I have the main page for my actual budget but then I have seperate tabs for each area and for vendors. LOL I am slightly OCD when it comes to organization. When I go out shopping I make any wedding purchases seperate from anything else and then scan the receipts so I can make sure of what I have paid for what. Then once I get home I enter them in the spread sheet. I originally had it on the google sheets but the one I uploaded got changed too much and needs to be updated again.

I use the WW budget tool

I made an excel spreadsheet, but decided to just use the WW Budget tool, it's awesome!

I've got an excel spreadsheet. I set it up with one column of estimated expenses with the total at the bottom - pretty much our total budget - but then each section expands for each cost as we pay it. A second column adds that up to give me our actual spend.

I put literally everything on there though. For example when I expand the decor section it even has the $2.00 I spent on double sided tape and the glue I bought to make my flowers etc. Every dollar is accounted for. So far we are under budget on everything but the invitations. Postage threw me and I went $20 over.

I have an Excel spreadsheet. It has the major categories, then specific item, estimated cost, actual cost, and a profit/loss margin. It really helps me to see how each dollar is being spent. I also have a separate Excel sheet that keeps track of partial payments, payment type, and date.

I kept track using Excel until it became pointless. I only use it to know who needs to be paid and when.

Was budget tool works great

I started using the WW one but I'm better with a physical book, so I purchased a planner from Barnes and Noble. It covers more detail than WW does which is helpful.