See your money clearly each month
When I asked myself “where has my money gone?” the best answer I could muster was a guess or an assumption. I finally came to a point in my life where I just wanted a real and accurate answer so I could know if I was doing anything right and where it was going all wrong.
The Tidy Money Tool , is the culmination of all my best practices that have been tried and tested over 15 years. As a result, I gained factual data about where my money was going and then my questions started to change. I began to reflect if I was happy with my spending decisions or if I needed to make different choices in my life. I kept asking these questions until I could steer my money decisions to a better place.
It’s a simple and intentionally slow basic process. Think of it like getting your reps in, it is a strengthening practice that will improve your confidence with money over time.
There are three basic steps: Keep, Enter, Reflect:
If you bought our Tidy Money Tool, you might like to watch our How-to videos!
Keep your receipts
At the end of the day or every other day, place all your receipts in an envelop labelled for that day. If you didn't get a receipt, write it on a piece of scrap paper and place it in the envelop. This takes 10 minutes or less.
Enter your receipts
Once a month, empty your envelop and input each receipt into the Tidy Money Tool, a simple-to-use Excel sheet. Handling your physical receipts connects you to your spending choices so you can better understand the facts about your money. This process takes approx 2 hours each month.
The good, bad or ugly review
Step back to look at what you've spent your money on and reflect if it was good, bad or ugly. Do so with curiosity, no shame, no blame. It is simply information that you can use to make decisions next time. The reports make it easy for you to draw insights on your spending.
Why not use an app? There are many apps that can help you track your spending, but I simply don’t want to think about logging my spending every day. It has worked for me live my day-to-day life as normal and take 10 mins at the end of the day to empty my wallet of receipts. At the end of each month, I spend two hours (the time that would take to watch a movie) to pick up each my receipts, enter them in and review my spending choices. This is the other reason I prefer this process over an app as the act of dedicating time to look at your money is key to building your own knowledge that will give you better control and confidence over your own choices.
The entire process is provided in the Tidy Money Pack and the how-to videos show you how to set up and use your tool.
See your money clearly to gain control
Get the Tidy Money Pack which includes a detailed Guide to the process and the Excel Tool.
What people are saying
“I started using the Tidy Money Tool in 2017 and have never looked back. At first, I was worried that the monthly logging would add to my never ending to-do list. However, after a few months, I was amazed at how easy it is to do. On average I devote 2 hours per month to this process and its time well spent.
It’s given me a clearer clarification on whether something makes sense and sits well within our financial means.”
— Nonie
“The Tidy Money Tool is fantastic. It is easy to use and gives you incredible insights on your spending (sometimes eye-opening!)
It is easy to see where your money is going and where you can find room for savings. Definitely essential when you are trying to stick to a budget or if you want to see if your next big ticket item is even feasible at a certain point in time.”
— Nicole
“This has been a wonderful tool to use together with my wife, I'm fairly Excel illiterate and the fact that Amanda has set this up as 'ready to go' really helped my self esteem levels. At first we used to do the accounts together. Three years later and I'm in charge of the accounts! We love the fact that we can name categories to suit our lifestyle (we even have a item called 'Idiocy' for when we make the type of mistakes that cost us money, which makes us double check things a lot more!). We definitely manage our money better having the Tidy Money Tool in our lives. Thank you Amanda.”
— Tanneke
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