Everything has a price and the monetary price you pay are your expenses. You can take most of them out of your ebanking / creditcard transactions and add the things you pay in cash.
I group the expenses on a yearly basis (to keep it simple):
- Rent (or mortage payment)
- Food (at home and restaurants)
- Transport (car / public transport)
- Communication (mobile phone plan)
- Clothes
- Leisure (gadgets / spotify / going out / gifts / social things)
- Sport (gym subscription)
- Travel
- Health
- Insurances
- Taxes (unless already deducted from the income source)
- etc.
How to define the amount per expense group?
Important is here to not try to be very accurate since is almost impossible to achieve. If I can’t define the yearly cost per expense group, I guess them and review it every 6 months to check if it is accurate. My system to manage money highlights unexpected expenses very well but more on that in Level 1: Install a system to manage your money.
How to summarise and monitor my expenses?
I use a simple spreadsheet where I update the value of my expenses over time. You can create your own spreadsheet or use my personal FIRE template.