1. Record everything you spend. Recording what you’ve spent in a spending diary is a really useful way of keeping track of your finances. You can either create one for yourself in a notebook or on a spreadsheet, but you can also pick these up for very little cost. (Mine was £2.50 from Wilko and it’s great!) At the end of each day, I write down how much money I spent and what on. This allows you to keep a running total of how much you are spending throughout the month, and I find it also helps me to spend less as I know I will have to be accountable for it and write it down later! I colour code each item into different categories that work for me: Food & drink Items for other people Items for myself Travel There is also a section at the top of each month to record my fixed spending, so all my bills go in that section. At the end of the month you can work out how much money you have saved or overspent, and you can also easily see