You need to track what you spend or you will not be aware of how much you are spending and where you are spending it. In the spirit of tracking, I will be also tracking my calories with both MyFitnessPal and Weight Watchers.

Like budgeting and tracking where you spend, I feel the same is true for what you are eating. Would you eat an entire bag of chips if you were actually tracking the calories? If you track your calories, then you would measure the amount of chips you would eat that would correspond to the amount of calories you would dedicate to junk food for the day.

There are so many great apps to track your funds. I have used MINT in the past, Mint is a Personal Finance App that is FREE – yes we said FREE! You can sign up online, and they also have both an Android and IOS app. You simply sign up, add your bank account, credit cards and loan accounts and Mint does the rest. I had a friend of mine sign up, and she freaked out when she realized how much money she was spending and how much of it was on clothing and beauty items. Well she has changed her spending habits quickly. I have converted another person!

How does it all tie together?

If I eat out or order out, then I am paying a premium for the cost of convenience. With takeout, I will have to pay taxes and a tip. Additionally I will not be able to track the actual amount of calories.

Restaurant Meal

Eggs Benedict One of My Fave Meals for Breakfast, Lunch of Dinner

• Eat out: With coffee and tip $20
• Calories: 715 calories per serving at my favourite restaurant
• Points: 27 out of my daily 24 allowance  ( some restaurants are as high at 67 points which is 3 days worth of food)

Home Meal

• Make it at home: Probably $5 with coffee
• Calories: 300 calories
• Points: 6 points

Conclusion

• Track everything you can
• Track all of the ways you spend your money
• Track all of the food that you are eating
• Tracking everything should result in saving money and getting healthy!

So do you track your finances and calories?