Track every pound or dollar for a month
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
Writing down every purchase for a month shows where money actually goes, which is rarely where people guess. MoneyHelper's free Budget Planner adds up income and outgoings and breaks down the spending, and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes a spending tracker among its free tools.
GentleFreeA few weeksIndoorsOn your ownUK and US
How to start
- Open the MoneyHelper Budget Planner, or download the spending tracker from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau toolkit.
- Collect your payslips, bank statements, bills and banking app, as MoneyHelper suggests.
- Record every purchase for a full month and add up the totals by category.
Where to go
- MoneyHelper Budget Planner (UK government-backed tool) UK
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau "Your Money, Your Goals" toolkit (includes spending tracker) US
We opened these links on 8 October 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
This is general information, not financial or business advice for your own circumstances.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. A habit needs a fixed slot in the week more than a plan, so the planner gives it one and checks in gently.
Read next
Lisa Croke began with $90,000 of debt, no savings and a team of two
Lisa Croke, 50, told the Washington Post in January 2025 how she went from $20,000 of consumer debt, $70,000 of student loans and no savings to clearing her credit cards and investing, with an accountant and a financial coach alongside her. Two other women in the same report began again in their fifties. What they did, what the figures say about starting late, and four weeks of first steps. General information, not financial advice.
Check your State Pension forecast or Social Security statement: what the numbers mean and what you can still change
How to get your UK State Pension forecast or US Social Security Statement, what the figures and dates mean, how National Insurance gaps and voluntary contributions work, and how claiming at 62, 67 or 70 changes a US benefit. General information, not financial advice.