How do I start tracking my spending?

Begin with one month of honest observation before you try to change anything. Pull the last 30 days of transactions from your checking account and credit cards, then sort each into a handful of categories – housing, food, transport, subscriptions, discretionary. You can do this in a spreadsheet, an app that auto-imports, or even by reading statements. The goal of the first pass is awareness, not judgment: most people are surprised by one or two categories. Once you see the pattern, set realistic targets for the categories you want to shrink. Don't aim for forty categories; five to eight is enough to act on. After a baseline month, a free read like the budget-analyzer at wealthserene.com/tools/budget-analyzer can show how your split compares to common benchmarks.