Use a Bullet Journal to Stay On Top of Finances

If you struggle to get a handle on your finances or make some financial goals, then a bullet journal is an excellent option! 

This type of journaling system keeps all of your finances in one journal, where you can track everything from bill paying and money coming in, to looking at your spending habits, monthly expenses and learning how to save more money.

Include Your General Finance Information

You can start the financial part of your bullet journal by including some general information about your finances. Have this page be dedicated to the current state of your financial situation, what is in your bank and savings accounts, and just a brief summary of where you want to go from here. 

List some of your major debts and expenses, how much you earn and how often, and how much you are trying to save.

Track Every Cent You Spend

Your finance section should also have an area where you can track your spending on a daily basis. This is necessary so you know where your money goes and in what areas you might be able to cut back. Don’t forget to include things like credit cards as well as monthly bills as credit card debt still needs to be paid off or at least managed.

Perhaps you find that you spend a good portion of your extra money on clothes, or going out for happy hour is costing a little too much. Just tracking what you spend and on what can make a drastic difference.

Track your debt payoff with bullet journal

Debt is something we should always pay attention to. It takes away our savings and makes us worry about paying off the loan.  But there is good news. With a bit of planning, you can get rid of your debts without sacrificing too many things.

Start by creating a list of your current debts. Then decide which ones you’d like to tackle first.

You might also consider using a tool such as Debt Snowball Calculator to help you plan out your repayment schedule.  But a simple debt payoff chart works nicely and the debt tracker can be made as part of your financial bullet journal area.

Plan for purchases

As well as tracking what you have bought, you can use a bullet journal to plan for future purchases, large and small.  If you know you will need to buy certain things around particlar times – like presents at Christmas – you can start allocating a little money and making sure you don’t need to pull it all out at once.

Or you can use it to plan for normal purchases that are a little less frequent than the normal weekly shop.  Things you buy once a month, once a quarter or even once a year can be tracked with a simple spread.

Create a Savings Plan

Part of tracking your finances in the bullet journal can be to start a savings plan and set yourself some savings goals. This might include saving for specific things, such as your child’s college fund, buying a new car, or starting a business. 

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You can also have open-ended savings plans, such as wanting to save money for a 10-year plan you have in mind, or just saving for your retirement.  It helps to first list your main expenses and what you currently spend for a while so you can see exactly what the leftover money will be for your savings plan.

Monitor your subscriptions

If you don’t already subscribe to certain services or products, then there’s no reason not to start now! It may seem daunting but once you get started, you’ll find that it becomes second nature. If you’ve been meaning to sign up for Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc., then go ahead and take advantage of their free trial periods. This gives you time to decide whether or not you’d rather pay $10/month versus having access to unlimited content.

Then once you have the subscription, add it to the bullet journal finances area of your Bu-Jo and track what goes out when.  You can use a colour code to show different types of subscriptions such as TV channels, magazines, subscription boxes and more.  Then you can make a note if you want to stop something or if it is changing in price.

Separate Business and Personal Finances

If you run a business, make sure you are keeping your business and personal finances separate. This helps you to determine what money is spent on your personal situation and business responsibilities, but also helps to reduce combining work and personal stress.  Set a monthly budget for each area and use bullet journaling to track how it is going.

Having separate bank accounts and separate funds for them is also highly recommended.