3556: [Part 1] How to Complete Your Very First Spending Audit by Amanda Brownlow on Personal Finance Basics

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Optimal Finance Daily
Host: Diania Merriam
Episode: 3556: [Part 1] How to Complete Your Very First Spending Audit by Amanda Brownlow
Air Date: May 11, 2026

This episode introduces listeners to the concept of a "spending audit," a fundamental tool for gaining control over personal finances and identifying excess spending. Diania Merriam reads Amanda Brownlow's step-by-step guide, offering actionable advice for anyone looking to get a clear picture of their financial habits.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of a Spending Audit

• In a consumer-driven society, it’s easy to overspend without noticing. A spending audit helps you confront this habit by reviewing every transaction in detail.
• Quote [00:52]: "Society tells us buy more and save. But really you'll save 100% if you don't buy that product at all."

2. What is a Spending Audit?

• It's the act of sitting down—ideally with your partner—and scrutinizing all transactions from the past month by pulling out bank and credit card statements, and putting everything into a spreadsheet or written format.
• Purpose: To identify exactly where your money is going and why.

3. Why Perform a Spending Audit?

• Without a budget, it’s hard to know where your money actually goes—guessing doesn’t cut it.
• Treating money carelessly is a fast route to debt and lack of savings.
• A spending audit offers:
  • Precise monthly spending insights.
  • Total debt calculations.
  • Context for how much should be in savings.
  • Opportunities to cut unnecessary spending.
  • Room in the budget for financial goals.

4. Step-by-Step Guide to Doing a Spending Audit

Step 1: Gather Statements

• Collect your most recent bank, credit card, and loan statements. This can be done online or on paper.
• Don’t forget pay stubs if you use cash or get paid outside traditional bank methods.

Step 2: Review All Income

• List every credit to your accounts: paychecks, gifts, side hustle income, refunds, etc.
• Make this total stand out—it represents your full monthly working capital.
• Consider income variability; look at averages if your pay is not consistent.

Step 3: Review Debt Payments

• Most families have several types of debt: mortgage, car loans, credit cards, student loans, and medical debt.
• Quote [03:09]: “I've seen car payments as high or higher than a person's mortgage, so get together your statements for each debt you have.”
• For each loan, note:
  • The monthly payment
  • The total current amount owed
• This clarity is the starting point for any debt paydown strategy.

Step 4: Review Regular Bills

• Utilities, insurance, and other recurring bills should all be listed.
• Some things (like subscriptions) might be nonessential but still need to be written down—these are prime for cutting.
• Quote [04:28]: “Not all monthly transactions are necessities. Some are subscriptions to things you don't even need.”

Teaser:

• More on categorizing and analyzing discretionary expenses will be covered in part two.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the necessity of respect for money
  • [01:54] “Treating your money without respect is an easy way to spend more than you earn and end up in debt with no savings. Yikes.”
• On control and self-determination in budgeting
  • [08:34] “This is you determining for yourself what is an acceptable amount of spending based on your income, values, and financial goals. You are in absolute control of your own budget.”
• On the flexibility of budgets
  • [08:38] “If your budget feels like a straightjacket, it's probably because it's unrealistic. So tweak it and work towards making tiny 1% improvements each month rather than making yourself feel bad about the overly restrictive budget that you created.”
• Recognizing when income, not spending, is the issue
  • [09:02] “If over time this still doesn't help you reach your financial goals, it's possible that you don't have a spending problem. Maybe you have an income problem. Perhaps you need to focus your efforts on increasing your income rather than reducing expenses.”

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Additional Host Commentary

• Diania Merriam highlights that money tracking shouldn't be painful and emphasizes personal agency:
  • [08:14] “I think it's important to find a way to monitor your money that isn't painful. Many people find budgets restrictive, and I'd guess that's mostly because they're more susceptible to overspending.”

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Key Timestamps

• [00:52] – Introduction to spending audits and the need for them
• [01:54] – Consequences of not tracking money and importance of respect
• [03:09] – Breaking down the debt portion of the audit
• [04:28] – Reviewing monthly bills and identifying non-necessities
• [08:14] – Diania's commentary on making budgets pleasant and empowering
• [08:34] – The importance of self-determined budgeting
• [09:02] – Recognizing when income, not spending, may be the real issue

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Summary

In this first part, Amanda Brownlow (read by Diania Merriam) walks listeners through the initial phases of a spending audit: collecting financial statements, reviewing all forms of income, detailing all debts and regular bills, and emphasizing the need for honesty and thoroughness. Diania’s commentary reinforces that the power in budgeting comes from personal choice, not external control. The episode equips listeners with the foundational steps to take control of their finances—paving the way for deeper analysis and action in Part 2.

Listeners are encouraged to stay tuned for the next episode, where discretionary spending, recurring subscriptions, and further recommendations are covered.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

This is optimal Finance Daily how to complete your very first spending audit part one by Amanda Brownlow of hellobrownlow.com in a world of excess, it pays off to take a hard look at your spending habits. Society tells us buy more and save. But really you'll save 100% if you don't buy that product at all. So what do you spend money on every month in this buy more world? Are you spending more than you make? Can you think of any areas of excess spending you can trim back? All of these questions can be answered with a spending audit. What the heck is a spending audit? A spending audit is when you and your partner sit down to review or audit all of your transactions over the past month. Bank and credit card statements get pulled out and marked up. All this info you'll gather gets put into a spreadsheet or written out. You'll get to see just exactly where your money is going every month. And why should I do an audit? My money habits are just fine. If you live without a budget, you'll go without knowing exactly where your money went. Yes, you can kinda sorta keep tabs on your money mentally. $15 on lunch yesterday, $45 on gas Monday mortgage was about $850. Paycheck was somewhere around 1,500 this week. You get the idea. Treating your money without respect is an easy way to spend more than you earn and end up in debt with no savings. Yikes. Worse yet, you'll ask yourself at the end of every month, where the heck did my money go? If you have a well put together budget and keep track of every single transaction good for you. You can still do a spending audit to assess if any areas could be cut back on to increase savings. A spending audit will show you exactly how much you're spending every month, give you the exact amount of debt you have, puts into perspective how much you should have in savings, allows you the opportunity to cut back on spending now before it gets worse, and helps make room in your budget to achieve your financial goals. How to actually do your spending audit 1. Gather bank statements, credit card statements and any loan statements. First things first. Get your statements together. If you're an online only type person, it's okay to use your online banking to pull statements. You'll need your most recent statement for everything. Look for bank accounts, credit cards, loans or mortgage and retirement accounts, or other savings or investment accounts. If you cash your paycheck every week instead of depositing it, grab your last month's worth of pay stubs too. Using cash only is tricky. We'll get to that later. 2 Review Income in your spreadsheet or on your paper, write down every credit you received in the last month. This includes paychecks, gifts, refunds and additional income from side hustles like selling things, mowing lawns, etc. Make a total for the month. Highlight it, make it bold. Just make it stand out. This is the money you're working with for a full month. Some things to consider Are your paychecks regular or are you commission based? If your checks aren't regular, you'll want to look at the average for each month over the last year. This is easily done online through your bank's website and pulling statements. You can also find last year's income on your tax return. Some employers also include an average pay on your paystubs or the HR website. Review your debt payments. It's typical for most American families to have several different types of debt including mortgage, auto loan, credit card debt, student loan debt, and medical debt. Personally, we have an auto loan and a mortgage together. The payment is over $1,000. That's a big chunk of money and our payments are on the low side. I've seen car payments as high or higher than a person's mortgage, so get together your statements for each debt you have all the credit card statements, the mortgage, your car loan, that student loan debt that just won't go away. With your statements, do two things. Write down your monthly payment for each loan on the same sheet as you did for your income and write down the total amount you currently owe. If debt weighs heavy on your shoulders, this is why you've kept listening. This is why you're doing a spending audit to set a goal to pay off debt and get finances back in order to you can do this. Review your regular bills. Bills. You've got them. I've got them. We gotta pay em. Find your most recent statements for all of your utilities, insurance and all things that come out monthly. Can't find statements? Never fear. Just look through your online banking or your last bank statement. Do any of those debits or transactions occur on a monthly basis? Write all of your regular monthly bills next to your debt payments. These are things that need to get paid, however, and this is a big however. Not all monthly transactions are necessities. Some are subscriptions to things you don't even need. You still need to write these down. You're paying for them every single month whether or not you use them. Hear that on tomorrow's episode. You just listened to part one of the post titled how to Complete youe Very First Spending Audit by Amanda Brownlow of HelloBrownlow.com Summer's almost here and honestly,

[A]

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[B]

I think it's important to find a way to monitor your money that isn't painful. Many people find budgets restrictive, and I'd guess that's mostly because they're more susceptible to overspending. But when it comes to restrictions based on an acceptable spending range, this is not coming from an outside force or

[A]

being forced on you from the budgeting gods.

[B]

This is you determining for yourself what is an acceptable amount of spending based on your income values and financial goals. You are in absolute control of your own budget. I think if your budget feels like a straightjacket, it's probably because it's unrealistic. So tweak it and work towards making tiny 1% improvements each month rather than making yourself feel bad about the overly

[A]

restrictive budget that you created.

[B]

And if over time this still doesn't help you reach your financial goals, it's possible that you don't have a spending problem. Maybe you have an income problem. Perhaps you need to focus your efforts on increasing your income rather than reducing expenses. But that doesn't mean you should give up on your budget. If you're not engaging with a budget and or somehow tracking your spending and income, then how will you know if you're moving towards your financial goals? But that's just the first half of the post, so be sure to come back tomorrow where we'll finish up this post and where optimal life awaits.