Tracking Spending Helps Save Money

A local blogger who writes about getting out of debt said that anyone can get out of debt with some good planning and strategizing.

J.D. Roth runs a Web site called Get Rich Slowly that Money magazine called one of the best money blogs.

He said he's no financial expert. Instead, he's just a guy who found himself $35,000 in debt and by reading everything he could about personal finance, he was able to become debt free in about two and a half years.

Now he's sharing what he learned along the way with thousands of others across the country.

He's been sharing tips with FOX 12 all week and so far his tips for getting out of debt include setting financial goals, starting an emergency fund before trying to pay off debt and paying off your smallest debts first so you have some psychological wins to keep you motivated.

He said his next tip is all about paying attention to exactly where your money is going.

"Another thing that worked for me when I was getting out of debt, was tracking every penny I spent. When you track your spending, you're better able to see where it goes. A lot of times, you don't realize what you're spending money on. So when I'm tracking my spending, I can see, oh, I'm spending $20 a month on CDs? I didn't know I spent $20 a month on CDs. I can cut my music budget down," Roth said.

There are a lot of great ways to track your spending: spreadsheets, programs like Quicken and even Web sites that let you do it for free like Mint.com.