My first goal in my quest to pay off my student loan debt is to track every penny I spend in the month of January.  It’s tedious.  It’s sometimes hard to remember.  And it’s hard to wait a whole month before really setting up the budget.  But tracking expenses is important, when it comes to debt repayment. Expense Tracking Shows You Why You’re in Debt If you’re in debt, most of the time it’s because you’ve overspent.  Exceptions would be if you only have mortgage or student loan debt.  But most Americans have credit card debt.  In fact, the average amount of credit card debt for each household in the U.S. is $9,797.38.  That’s a lot of debt. Without tracking your expenses, it’s hard to know where you’re overspending. How many times have you walked into Target and spent $100, only to forget what you bought a week later?  I know I’ve done that more times than I can count! But if you separate your Target receipt into categories and write down what you’ve spent in each category, after a month you will …

Source: Beingfrugal

Related posts:

1. Tracking My Expenses: The Results
2. 3 Ways To Get Out Of Credit Card Debt
3. Managing Credit Card Debt – 8 Tips to Help You Use Your Credit Card Wisely
4. Should You Pay off Your Credit Card Debt with Your Savings?
5. Getting Rid of Credit Card Debt Through Settlement