This spreadsheet keeps me honest

My latest blog post for University Affairs is about how I track what I spend, and how knowing what’s going out motivates good spending habits. Here’s how it begins:

Ten years ago, when I started my PhD at the University of Toronto, I began tracking every penny (R.I.P.) I spent. I can’t remember what motivated me to do this, other than the knowledge that I’d now have to pay rent and buy my own groceries out of my fellowship and teaching assistant income; previously, I’d lived with my parents. I’m still tracking my spending now. I know exactly what my life costs.

Read the rest of this post on my UA blog, here.

Download my spreadsheet here: Monthly expenditures


Comments

2 responses to “This spreadsheet keeps me honest”

  1. Genevieve Avatar
    Genevieve

    Here’s my question. I’ve tried tracking my monthly expenses but couldn’t figure out a good system of getting the information into the spreadsheet. I spend money out in the world and the spreadsheet was at home on my computer. So I ended up with a bunch of sticky notes with numbers on them that may or may not make it into the spreadsheet. Or I put them in my phone in some sort of not taking app but again, additional work was required to get them into the spreadsheet. What’s your system?

    1. Yeah, I manually enter things in once in a while. There’s no automation for me, unfortunately, because I want to be really specific. So I keep receipts and make notes to myself when receipts aren’t possible. It’s part of the personal administrative work that goes into my life. I don’t really like doing it but it’s a habit so I don’t really mind.