It’s the end of a month again, so we’re here to take a look at the state of our finances. I like to go through a list of end of the month budget questions at the end of every month to see if there is anything I need to—or want to—change as we move into a new month.

If you don’t have a budget, then you probably will want to start there. See my post on how to start a budget!

If you do have a budget, then here are some things to think about as March comes to a close. Consider this post your sign to do a March budget recap and help you get some perspective so you can stay on track for the rest of the year.

End of the Month Budget Questions | March Budget Recap

Did you actually track your spending?

I hope that if you’ve been with us since January, you have already figured out a method to track your spending. But even I go through weeks where I’m not really paying that much attention and have to sit down and spend some time getting everything balanced out. If you haven’t been tracking your spending, what barriers are keeping you from doing that? Do you need to change your method by using a different app, making a spreadsheet, or switching to pencil and paper?

How much did you spend last month?

If you did track your spending, great job! Now you can zoom out and look at your overall spending. You can also look at individual categories and see what your spending was. I ended up spending more in March on a family birthday than I intended to, but I was able to move some money from another category to make up for it.

Will you be planning to spend more or less on a certain category in the coming month?

For me, next month looks like it will be about the same, except I don’t need to buy dog food for several months because I got a great deal on a bulk order of dog food.

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