how i convinced my parents to finally track their spending
For years, my parents shrugged off budgeting. “We’ve always managed somehow,” they’d say. But I started noticing small leaks—subscriptions they forgot, duplicate insurance policies, and impulsive weekend splurges that added up.
Instead of lecturing, I framed it as a challenge. I showed them a simple tracking method: every purchase logged for a month, and then we’d visualize where the money went. Surprisingly, they got competitive about it—especially my dad. He started asking, “Do we really need two streaming services?”
Within weeks, we cut $400 in unnecessary monthly spending. More importantly, they began to see patterns in their cash flow, which made future decisions—like investing in a small rental property—far less stressful.
Lesson learned: it’s not about controlling family members, it’s about showing the benefit in real numbers. Once they saw the savings, the motivation to act was theirs, not mine.
#FamilyFinance #MakeMoney #BudgetingTips
