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I’m a personal finance reporter living in New York City. 3 tools I use to keep my spending in check
By Kamaron McNair,CNBC •
Published 26 mins ago •
Updated 18 mins ago
Kamaron McNair
Whether it’s for an article on topics like how to deal with your student loans or a personal question like whether continuing to have pet insurance is worth it, I’m constantly thinking about money.
When it comes to actually managing my money, I do my best to take the advice my colleagues and I gather from a variety of experts and folks who’ve successfully accomplished goals like paying off debt and retiring early, but I’m far from perfect.
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One of my favorite pieces of advice we’ve shared on CNBC Make It, though, is that you don’t need to follow a strict budget.
“Research shows in budgeting, and we see the same thing with a much broader body of research in dieting, that that kind of restriction doesn’t work,” Dana Miranda, a certified personal finance educator, told Make It earlier this year.
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This validates my personal aversion to tracking every dollar and reminds me that money is supposed to let you have fun and live well — as long as you’re doing so within reason.
As such, I use three main tools to keep an eye on my spending and work toward my financial goals. They help me stress less and feel empowered to make my day-to-day financial decisions.
1. A calendar
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While I don’t set and stick to a strict monthly budget, I do try to set myself up for success ahead of each month by filling out a money calendar. I use Google Drawings to do this digitally, but ultimately it is a version of a pen and paper spending plan.
Each month I copy over my routine expenses and automatic payments like my student loan payment and streaming subscriptions. Then as costs for things like social events or home supplies come up, I add them into the calendar so I have a general idea of how much