I get it. Tracking your budget can be time-consuming and you just don’t have the extra time to keep up with it. I have been there too. There have been times where I haven’t looked at my budget in MONTHS just because I am too busy to do so. By the time I get around to doing my budget, I am so far behind that I just start again…and again…and again…

Every time I start again, I always have regret. I regret not tracking those months I missed. It’s like a hole in my financial movie and I want to know what I missed! I miss out on tracking variable expenses, unexpected expenses, and possible identity theft.

Here are my top 3 reasons why you should keep tracking your budget, even when you don’t feel like it.

One: You’ll know where your money goes

Once or twice a year, I take a deep dive into my family’s finances. I find out our monthly averages for groceries, dining out, kid supplies, and much more. If I don’t track my expenses for 3 months, I miss out on including a lot of annual expenses such as car registration, home/rental insurance payment, and holiday meals. Missing those expenses causes my deep dive to be lacking substance.

Knowing where your money goes is the key to keeping an accurate budget and estimating expenses in the future. How do you know if you have been spending too much? How do you know if you are on the right track to reaching your goals? Which brings me to my next point…

Two: You’ll know when you reach your goals

Let’s face it, we need a good reason to budget and that reason is our goals. A budget helps us reach our financial goals. Whether that goal is to pay off debt, retire early, or buy a house; a budget will let us know how close or how far we are to achieving that goal.

Not tracking your goals loses all the motivation for budgeting and reaching our goals. We want to check off boxes, color progress sheets, and watch the numbers grow! When we neglect our budget, we miss out on those fun financial activities.

We lose sight of “why” we are doing what we are doing and then it begins to feel like we are working just to pay bills and not enjoy life. We start to feel stressed as if we are on a never-ending hamster wheel. Tracking our financial goals lets us see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Three: Catch unplanned or unexplained expenses

Last but not least, tracking our budget means we can catch unplanned or unexplained expenses. When we are budgeting, we are reviewing our bank accounts and tracking expenses. We are not strangers to unplanned expenses such as a broken water heater or fender-bender. What are unexplained expenses? These are the expenses that YOU did NOT make!

Keeping track of your bank accounts regularly will alert you to fraudulent transactions. Fraudulent transactions are the result of identity theft and involve the use of your debit card for charges that you did not authorize.

As soon as you recognize these fraudulent transactions, you will be able to contact your bank or financial institution immediately to get the situation resolved. The sooner the bank fixes the issue the sooner your account will go to normal again.

Wrap-Up

I know you are busy and sometimes working on your budget may not be your top priority but, I plead with you (and myself), make time for your budget. Even if you only have 15 minutes once a week, that is better than neglecting your budget altogether. Your financial goals will thank you!