Hi, I'm trying to get my life together financially. I"ve been spending so much on going out to eat lately it seems. Does anyone have a good method to keep track of all spending habits from gas to rent?

If you don't already own Excel, don't spend money on it. That's counter productive.

The important thing, whether in Excel or your checkbook register it to write it down and always know the current balance. It's easier to spend it when you aren't keeping a close eye on it. Keeping it in a checkbook register, which you can carry with you, allows you to write it down as you go. Each time you spend, you're reminded of how much you have left.

If you want to set up a spreadsheet, you need seven columns. Title them (you will need to abbreviate some) in this order check number, date, description, wiithdrawl, deposit and balance. Withdrawal is column D, deposit is column E and balance is column F. In the first balance cell (F2), record your balance. In the one beneath (F3), enter this formula: =F2-D3+E3. Start making entries in row 3. Copy cell F3 down once cell each time you make an entry.

When you want to do some analysis, you can use the autofilter function or pivot tables to see who you are spending money with. Use the autofill function when entering description to keep them consistant. If you're not real familar with Excel, I'd highly recommend making a backup of your file before you start analyzing the data.