Spending tracking is the fundamental personal finance practice of recording and categorizing every dollar (or unit of currency) that leaves your wallet or bank account. Unlike budgeting—which is a plan for how you intend to spend money—spending tracking is an audit of what you actually did with your money.
At its simplest, spending tracking means writing down every purchase: a coffee, a grocery bill, a streaming subscription, and a parking meter. This data is then organised into categories such as "Housing", "Food", "Transportation", "Entertainment", and "Miscellaneous".
