LightningTracking Expenses
How to See Where Your Money Goes Each Month
If you pay from the bank, in cash and from a wallet, one account statement doesn’t tell the whole month. Bring the sources together in a way that stops the same amount being counted twice and shows your real spending.
You might buy with your bank card, then transfer money to Vodafone Cash, then pay from the wallet. If you count the bank deduction and the wallet purchase as two costs, you will think you spent more than you did. To know where your money goes, follow it until it actually leaves your accounts.
1. List Where Your Money Sits and How You Pay
Write down every place that holds money: a bank account, a phone wallet such as Vodafone Cash, or cash at home or in your pocket. Then write down the ways you pay: card, InstaPay, the wallet, Fawry or cash.
This list stops you forgetting a place whose statement you rarely open.
2. Sort Every Movement
- Income: your salary or any work money that reached your account.
- Transfer: money that moved between two accounts you own. It is not new income and it is not spending.
- Spending: money that left in exchange for something you bought or a service you paid for, such as a bill or shopping.
- Cash withdrawal: a move from your account to your pocket. It counts as spending when you spend that cash.
If you transfer 1,000 EGP from the bank to a wallet and spend 650 EGP of it, the spending is 650. The 1,000 is a transfer, and the other 350 is still your money. The figures are for illustration.
3. Gather the Activity From Every Place
Download the bank statement or transactions file for the same period, check the wallet’s history, and record cash purchases or go through the receipts. Choose a fixed start and end date. If you are paid on the 25th, make your month run from the 25th to the 24th of the next month, not from the 1st to the end of the month.
Bank text messages are useful as a reminder, but they are not a full record. Cash payments, some fees or older transactions may not show up in them. Compare them with the account statement when it is available, and don’t rely on them alone for the month’s total.
4. Use Categories You Understand
Start with a few categories: housing and bills, food and home, transport, health, commitments, personal, and saving or investing. Split a category into smaller ones only when that helps you make a decision. If the detail makes you stop recording, simplify it.
5. Review Every Week
- Check the movements that have no clear description.
- Match each account’s balance to its statement or to the bank’s app.
- Mark transfers between your accounts, amounts that were refunded, and fees.
- If a category has gone over your plan, adjust the part of the month that hasn’t been spent yet.
If you use a spreadsheet, keep the columns simple: date, description, amount, account and category. If you use an app, find out where your data is kept and what permissions it asks for. You don’t have to give anyone your bank password to record your spending. You can enter the statements yourself, or record cash by hand.
Read also how to build a budget from a bank statement, where your data is kept and recording expenses in Egypt.
The Short Version
Your total is more accurate when you follow the accounts, the wallets and the cash, and keep a transfer apart from a purchase. Start with one month and a few categories, then use what you learn in a budget you can keep to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is moving money between my own accounts spending?
No. Record it as a transfer between two accounts. Spending is counted when you buy something or pay someone outside your own accounts.
How do I keep track of cash without recording everything on the spot?
Keep a receipt or write a short note when you pay, and add up the small costs at the end of the day. A weekly review shows anything that is missing.
Are bank text messages enough to track spending?
No. They are a good reminder, but they may not cover cash or some fees. Compare them with the account statement before you rely on the total.
Where do I start if I have no records at all?
Start with one month and a few categories. Download the bank statement and write down the cash you remember, even if it isn’t complete. The first picture doesn’t have to be 100% accurate; what matters is that you start.