Spreadsheets are the default answer to "how do I track my spending" because they're free and flexible. They're also the reason most people quit tracking expenses within a month — every purchase requires opening a file, finding the right row, and typing it in by hand.

The real problem isn't tracking — it's friction

Nobody stops tracking expenses because they stop caring about their money. They stop because the process takes too long relative to how small most purchases are. A $6 coffee doesn't feel worth a spreadsheet row, so it gets skipped, and then the next one does too.

The fix isn't a better spreadsheet template. It's removing the friction between "I just spent money" and "it's logged."

What a lighter system looks like

A few things matter more than the tool itself:

• Logging takes seconds, not minutes. If adding an expense takes longer than the purchase itself, it won't stick.
• Categories are automatic, not manual. You shouldn't have to remember your own category naming scheme every time.
• The view updates itself. A running total by category is more useful in the moment than a report you generate once a month.

Categorizing without overthinking it

Start with a small number of broad categories — food, transport, bills, subscriptions, everything else — rather than trying to predict every possible category up front. Categories are easy to add later once you see where your spending actually clusters; they're much harder to guess correctly on day one.

Reviewing without dreading it

The point of tracking expenses isn't the log itself — it's noticing patterns early enough to do something about them. A category quietly running high mid-month is far more useful to see than the same fact three weeks later in a year-end review.