If you don't then you should. Budgeting can help you save money but only IF you stick to it. However there are some things you might not have planned to spend money which circumstances force you to buy. These and all other expenses you didn't plan for should be recorded and at the end of the month make a comparison between what you planned to spend and what you actually spent. This would translate into saving you some cash if you discover that there are some things you could cut out of your budget to ensure that you spend only a set amount of cash in one month.
I think the benefits of this are indisputable, but I work two jobs, and I just don't see how I could find time to do this. It would drive me crazy trying to keep up with everything I spend. Still, l I keep telling myself, it's probably just a matter of getting more organization in my life, because I would really like to try it.
It is in theory a very good thing to do and I'm sure I would definitely end up saving money if I did do it, but as @Brenda Barnousky said, it's so hard to do when we're so busy with our day to day lives. However, there are app that you can use that make the process a lot easier. I tried out Expensify a while back and it was quite neat, as you can simply take a photo of your receipt and categorize them into different categories, and it even creates expense reports for you.
In a sense yes, but not necessarily in a time consuming way. We try to pay for everything on our credit cards. The record is therefore kept, meticulously, for us. We pay our credit card in full every month, so we benefit in many ways. Automatic book keeping, airline points, fraud protection, etc. Though I don't "record" all of them, about three years ago I started filing all receipts as well. It is amazing how often it has become necessary to dig out a receipt for a refund on something that breaks, etc. Also, with the abundance of mail in rebates that come out AFTER you've bought something, it is great to have a receipt handy for money back purposes. I throw receipts away after a year.
I keep the receipt, since I also would use the paper to make small notes in it, so I inadvertently keep them. It's good to know how much an item has increased in price after you bought the item the 1st time, so it's a good reference. If I want to budget that would be simple, I just won't spend on what I don't need.
I really don't keep a record of my expenditures and purchases, but I think that's a great idea. Planning and budgeting are really important factors in saving money.
We keep all records of our purchases except for weekly groceries. My husband is very good at this sort of thing and likes to create spreadsheets recording our incoming earnings, our budget and our expenditures. It really is handy and useful in keeping us on budget.
I don't keep track of each and every purchase but I do keep mental notes of how I'm doing financially at any given point. If I'm spending way more than I should be, I'd still know even though I am not physically taking notes. I agree that it would be much better to list them all though so I could have a more accurate portrait of my spending, but for now the mental note system is working enough for me.
I don't keep track of individual items. I do keep track of categories such as clothes, food at the grocery store, eating at a restaurant, pet items, etc. I don't save actual receipts longer than it takes to enter the totals into my spreadsheet.
