Why track your spending at all
Without tracking, any budget is a guess. We remember big purchases but barely notice small ones: a 25,000 so‘m taxi, a 45,000 lunch, a phone top-up, a transfer to a friend. Individually they're trivial; over a month they can add up to the size of your rent.
Tracking isn't about banning yourself from everything. It answers three questions:
- How much do I really earn and spend?
- Where does the money go — and does that match my priorities?
- How much can I realistically save each month?
Step 1. Pick a method you'll actually use
- An app or online tool. Fast, totals itself, shows charts — for example, My Money on ONPUL.
- A spreadsheet. Flexible, but needs discipline and a computer.
- A notebook. Good if you pay cash a lot; you'll add up totals by hand.
Your bank app statement helps but doesn't replace tracking: it misses cash, and transfers are often labelled vaguely ("P2P", a name). Compare your notes with the statement once a week.
Step 2. Set up clear categories
You don't need 40 categories. 8–12 is enough:
- Housing (rent, repairs)
- Utilities
- Groceries
- Transport (taxi, metro, bus, fuel)
- Phone and internet
- Cafés and food delivery
- Clothes and shoes
- Health and medicine
- Children and education
- Family and events (help for parents, weddings, gifts)
- Loans and installments
- Other
Track income separately too: salary, side jobs, transfers from relatives, repaid loans. This matters most when income is irregular.
Step 3. Separate fixed and variable costs
Fixed costs barely change month to month: rent, loan payments, kindergarten, phone plan. Easy to plan; cutting them takes a bigger decision (moving, changing plan, refinancing).
Variable costs depend on daily choices: groceries, taxis, cafés, clothes, fun. That's where leaks usually hide — and where it's easiest to find money.
There's a third group — irregular costs: weddings, repairs, back-to-school, medical check-ups, appliances. Not monthly, but certain. If you ignore them, every such month feels like a "bad" one.
Step 4. Log daily — it takes 2 minutes
- Record a purchase right after paying.
- Missed it? Spend 2 minutes in the evening rebuilding the day from your statement.
- Don't chase perfection — rounding to 1,000 so‘m is fine.
- For cash, keep the receipt or note the amount on your phone.
Step 5. Do a 3-month review
One month isn't the full picture — it may include a wedding, an illness or just a lucky week. The real picture takes three months. Take the average for each category.
Example review
A family earning 9,000,000 so‘m a month tracked for three months:
| Category | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 2,500,000 | 2,500,000 | 2,500,000 | 2,500,000 |
| Groceries | 2,100,000 | 2,400,000 | 2,250,000 | 2,250,000 |
| Transport and taxi | 600,000 | 900,000 | 750,000 | 750,000 |
| Cafés and delivery | 500,000 | 700,000 | 900,000 | 700,000 |
| Utilities | 450,000 | 400,000 | 500,000 | 450,000 |
| Phone | 200,000 | 200,000 | 200,000 | 200,000 |
| Other | 800,000 | 500,000 | 1,100,000 | 800,000 |
| Total | 7,650,000 |
What the table shows:
- On average 1,350,000 so‘m is left over, yet the family saved nothing — the money "dissolved" by month-end.
- Café and delivery spending grows by 200,000 every month. A warning sign.
- "Other" is 800,000 a month — too much for a vague category. Worth finding out what's in it.
The family's plan: move 1,000,000 so‘m to a separate account on payday, cap delivery at 400,000 a month and split "other" into 2–3 clear categories.
Questions to ask after the review
- Which three categories are biggest — and do they match what really matters to me?
- Which category grew most, and why?
- Which purchases would I not repeat?
- What irregular costs are coming in the next six months?
- How much can I save monthly without feeling deprived?
Tracking as a couple
In a family both partners spend, sometimes parents or grown children too. If only one person logs, the picture is incomplete.
- Agree on one shared place and the same categories.
- Don't turn tracking into control or blame — the goal is a shared plan.
- Once a month, sit down together for 15 minutes to review.
- Each person can keep a small "no questions asked" allowance. It lowers tension.
Common mistakes
- Too many categories. Start with 8–12 and add detail later.
- Tracking only the card. Cash, transfers to relatives and small bazaar purchases count too.
- Forgetting income. Without it you can't see how much you can save.
- Beating yourself up. Tracking is a tool, not a punishment.
- Quitting after a "bad" month. Those months reveal which irregular costs to plan for.
- Tracking without conclusions. Spend 15 minutes each month reviewing what grew and what to fix.
After three months of tracking
- Build a budget from your averages — for example, an adapted 50/30/20 rule.
- Pick 1–2 categories to cut. No more, or the plan will break.
- Set a savings amount and transfer it automatically on payday.
- Keep tracking — now for control, not diagnosis.
Next step
Open My Money on ONPUL and add today's expenses — it takes less than a minute. A free account keeps your records, so in three months you can do your own review like the one above.