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- đ” How to Stay on Budget - Feat. Spendee
đ” How to Stay on Budget - Feat. Spendee
Use a Ledger to track expenses like a pro & Multiply savings.
Zak Graves
August 17, 2025 âą Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Budget vs Ledger
A Budget tells you what you PLAN to spend. A Ledger tracks your actual income and expenses to show you REALITY. You need both!
You could simply use a spreadsheet. I have my budget on a spreadsheet that I update annually.
You can get access to my Google Sheet Budget HERE
For a Ledger I prefer to use an app called Spendee
Itâs built to track analytics on expenses and income, track your specific budget limits, and be shared with a spouse, so you both can input items.
The free version is good (best for singles), and if you need Premium, you can get a lifetime subscription (no monthly/annual fees).
Premium Features: Multiple budgets, Shared access, Multiple tracked accounts.
Once you have both a budget and a ledger, they start influencing each other and you begin saving and intentionally spending more and more.
Here Iâll be overviewing how to set up and use Spendee specifically, but the concepts can be applied to a spreadsheet ledger, or whatever other tool you are using!
Donât Sync a Bank - Build a Manual âWalletâ đ°
Yes, this means that youâll have to enter every expense manually, but here is why this is MORE than worth itâŠ
You see everything in REAL TIME, instead of waiting for transactions to hit your bank account.
Also credit card transactions are input by you immediately as if they already hit your bank account, which of course is a good relation with credit⊠treating it like cash you had/spent.
You also get to split transactions to put them in the right categories and name them more accurately, which is essential for good tracking.
Ex: If a single transaction includes groceries and misc. home items, you can divide that expense accordingly.
PRO TIP: Although you probably want data on your spending right away, the best way to begin is to simply start with your bank balance AS IS. So the first expense that youâll input is whenever you spend money next.
Create a Wallet â Name it your Bank/Account â Youâre all set!
Keep Track of Cashflow & Expense Breakdown đ
As you input expenses youâll see your real time balance and the cashflow for that particular period.
Itâs a good habit to track cashflow and compare it with your budget. If something looks off, see if you need to adjust your budget.
You can look at âWallet Overviewâ to see a pie chart breakdown and a list of top expenses.
Itâs always a good sign when your Ledger is telling you that your top expenses are either planned (rent/mortgage, groceries, planned items), or savings/investments.
Instead of poor eating habits, luxury expenses, etc.
Simulated Expenses (Left) / Real Monthly Breakdown (RIGH)
Spendee Pro Tip - Organize Categories By Usage âđŒ
Every time you input an expense you need to select a category. It helps if those are organized based on grouping and frequency.
So whatever you tap the most should be first, second most = second, etc.
This might be easier after a few months. Spendee will actually tell you how often a category is used.
Create Categories for Expenses and Various Types of Income
You also might be wondering what is a good list of categories to make. Here is my list!
Home - Misc. Home Expenses
Budgeted Expenses - Planned static cost expenses that are in your budget (usually subscriptions or planned maintenance)
Groceries
Food & Drink - Eating out
Coffee & Dessert
Fun Money - Personal allowances
Clothing & Cosmetic
Gas
Healthcare - Insurance, Copays, Medicine
Insurance
Savings - Investments
Church
Gifts
Friend/Family Fun - Outings
Health/Fitness - Gym, Supplements
Utilities - Gas, Electricity, Internet
Rent
Education
Car
Travel
Misc.
Youâll notice Spendee has labels, you can see a few in the picture above, they are helpful ways to tag expenses with association (Examples above include âTargetâ and âLandCruiserGasâ).
They are ways for seeing deeper breakdowns in various categories.
My practice is giving an expense a category and tagging it with the most relevant info (shop, and if a credit card was used).
Program Budget Categories đ”
Certain budget categories are not static but are greatly influenced by your spending throughout the month, the best example of this is food.
When you know what your budget is, you can program that into your ledger so that it tracks all your spending in that collective category, and gives you timely notifications.
In the example below, youâll see me set up a budget for Food. I create the budget and then select which Spendee categories contribute to that budget category.
Food is a combination of Groceries, Food & Drink (going out to eat), and Coffee & Dessert
If you share Spendee with a spouse youâll need to set up budgets independently in each personâs app.
So in this example, I needed to build the same budget in my app and in my wifeâs app. I then have to update them separately, as needed in the future.
Now Spendee will track pacing for the month, and total collective expenses
đ TOP PICKS & BEHIND THE SCENES
For this week, and the next two, our topic of focus is personal finance! The hope is that youâll pick up some tools and techniques that immediately put some extra cash back into your pocket, and better yet, multiply it for the future!
Last year I overviewed essentials to personal finance and budgeting, if you havenât read through it, you should check it out.
