Best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples

Let’s start with the most flexible and low-tech option. This is one of the best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples because almost everyone has access to a spreadsheet, whether it’s Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers.

Imagine Maya, a 32-year-old teacher. She’s not into fancy apps, but she is tired of surprise overdrafts. She decides to build a simple recurring expense tracker in Google Sheets.

Here’s how she sets it up, step by step, without turning it into a math project:

• She creates columns for: Bill Name, Category, Amount, Due Date, Auto-Pay?, Paid From (Account), and Notes.
• Each row is one recurring expense.
• At the top, she adds a total line that sums all the monthly amounts.

By the end of an hour, her sheet includes these recurring expenses:

• Rent: $1,450, due on the 1st, auto-paid from checking
• Car payment: $320, due on the 5th
• Car insurance: $110, due on the 10th
• Internet: $70, due on the 12th
• Cell phone: $65, due on the 15th
• Streaming bundle (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+): $42 total, billed on different dates
• Gym membership: $39, billed on the 20th
• Cloud storage: $2.99, billed on the 3rd
• Music subscription: $10.99, billed on the 25th
• Credit card minimum payment: $75, due on the 18th

These are simple but powerful examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples in action. They show how quickly small subscriptions add up once they’re all in one place.

Why this spreadsheet example works so well

The magic isn’t the tool—it’s the visibility. Once Maya lists everything, she realizes she’s spending over $95 a month on digital subscriptions alone. That’s more than her internet bill.

She then:

• Highlights anything non-essential in yellow (extra streaming, unused apps, that gym she hasn’t visited since 2022).
• Adds a column called Keep or Cancel.
• Sets a monthly reminder on her phone to review the sheet.

This is a great example of track recurring monthly expenses turning into actual savings. Within a month, she cancels one streaming service, downgrades her music plan, and pauses the gym. That frees up about \(40 a month—\)480 a year—without touching her rent, groceries, or gas.

If you like structure but hate complicated tools, this spreadsheet approach is one of the best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples you can copy today.

Example 2: Banking app alerts – let your bank do the watching

Now let’s look at a more automated example of track recurring monthly expenses that uses tools you probably already have: your bank’s mobile app.

Many U.S. banks now offer:

• Transaction alerts (every time your card is charged)
• Merchant-specific alerts (every time a certain company bills you)
• Low-balance alerts (to prevent overdrafts when those auto-pays hit)

According to the Federal Reserve’s 2024 consumer payments report, more Americans are using mobile banking than ever, and recurring digital payments (subscriptions, memberships, cloud services) keep growing year over year. You can see similar trends discussed in the Federal Reserve’s consumer payment research here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities.htm

Real example: catching forgotten subscriptions with alerts

Picture James, a freelance designer. Money comes in at random times, but his recurring expenses don’t care—they hit on schedule.

His recurring bills include:

• Health insurance premium
• Design software subscription (Adobe Creative Cloud)
• Cloud backup service
• Website hosting and domain
• Two streaming services
• A meditation app he forgot about

Instead of building a spreadsheet, James goes into his bank app and:

• Turns on alerts for every card transaction over $1.
• Sets a low-balance alert when his checking account drops below $500.
• Flags a few known subscription merchants (Adobe, Spotify, Netflix, etc.) for merchant-specific alerts.

Over the next month, his phone lights up with real examples of recurring monthly expenses he had half-forgotten:

• A $12.99 charge for a meditation app he hasn’t opened in a year.
• A $9.99 cloud backup he no longer needs because he switched to another service.
• A $15 domain name renewal for a side project that’s been dead for two years.

These alerts become living examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples in real life—his bank is basically handing him a list of where his money is going.

Turning alerts into a tracking system

James doesn’t stop at noticing the alerts. He:

• Screenshots each recurring charge the first time it hits.
• Drops the screenshots into a folder called “Monthly Bills” on his phone.
• Once a month, he sits down for 15 minutes and writes them into a simple note: Bill Name – Amount – Date – Keep/Cancel.

This hybrid method—bank alerts plus a quick list—is a very practical example of track recurring monthly expenses for people who don’t want to babysit a spreadsheet every week.

If you want to better understand your rights around automatic payments and how to stop them, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has a clear guide on managing preauthorized payments: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-is-an-electronic-fund-transfer-en-1267/

Example 3: Budgeting apps – automatic tracking and categorizing

The third of our best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples uses a dedicated budgeting app. Think apps like You Need A Budget (YNAB), EveryDollar, Monarch, or similar tools.

Most modern budgeting apps can:

• Connect to your bank and credit card accounts
• Automatically import transactions
• Recognize recurring charges over time
• Tag them as subscriptions or bills

Real example: a family budget with many moving parts

Meet the Parkers, a family of four. Their recurring monthly expenses include:

• Mortgage
• Property taxes (paid into escrow monthly)
• Utilities (electricity, gas, water)
• Internet and cable
• Cell phones (four lines)
• Car loan
• Auto insurance
• Life insurance premiums
• Daycare
• Music streaming, video streaming, and a kids’ learning app
• Cloud storage and password manager

That’s a lot to track manually, so they choose a budgeting app that syncs with their accounts.

Over a couple of months, the app begins to recognize patterns. It identifies real examples of recurring monthly expenses, such as:

• The mortgage payment that hits on the 1st
• The electric bill that varies but always comes from the same utility company
• The monthly daycare payment
• The recurring Netflix, Spotify, and learning app charges

The app then groups these expenses into a “Bills & Subscriptions” section. This becomes a living dashboard of examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples tailored to their actual life.

How the app turns data into decisions

Once the Parkers see everything in one place, they notice:

• Their subscription total is over $120/month.
• Their utilities swing by \(60–\)80 between winter and summer.
• Their insurance premiums are higher than average for their area.

This leads them to take concrete actions:

• Cancel the kids’ learning app they barely use.
• Downgrade their cable package and rely more on streaming.
• Shop around for better auto and home insurance rates.

Budgeting apps make tracking recurring expenses less about remembering dates and more about making choices. You can find general guidance on building a household budget from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) here: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/make-budget-worksheet

Extra examples of recurring monthly expenses people often miss

Beyond the big three setups, it helps to see more real examples of track recurring monthly expenses so you can spot them in your own accounts. Here are some categories people routinely overlook:

• Health-related memberships and plans: fitness apps, weight-loss programs, online workout platforms, or premium meditation apps. For general health-related planning, Mayo Clinic has helpful resources on lifestyle and wellness: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle
• Software and digital tools: design tools, writing apps, password managers, cloud storage, project management tools, website builders.
• Education and learning: online course platforms, language-learning apps, premium newsletters, professional association dues.
• Smart home and security: home security monitoring, smart camera storage plans, smart thermostat subscriptions.
• Financial and credit services: credit monitoring, identity theft protection, premium tax software billed monthly.
• Gaming and entertainment: game pass subscriptions, in-game premium memberships, comic or manga apps.

Each of these is an example of track recurring monthly expenses that can quietly nibble away at your budget. When you pull your transactions for the last 60–90 days, look specifically for small, repeated charges from the same merchant.

How to build your own recurring expense system in 30 minutes

Let’s turn these examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples into a simple action plan you can actually do today.

You can mix and match from the three methods above. Here’s a straightforward approach that works for most people:

1. Pull your last 2–3 months of bank and credit card statements. Download them or scroll through your banking app.
2. Highlight anything that repeats monthly or yearly. Even annual charges (like Amazon Prime) should go on your list—just divide by 12 to see the real monthly impact.
3. Create a master list in a spreadsheet, note app, or budgeting tool with: Name, Amount, Frequency, Due Date, Auto-Pay, and Account.
4. Mark each as “Must Keep,” “Nice to Have,” or “Cancel Soon.” Be honest here. Rent is non-negotiable. A third streaming service? Maybe not.
5. Set two reminders: one a few days before your biggest bill hits, and one monthly reminder to review your list.

Once you’ve done this once, you now have your own personalized version of the best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples—custom-built for your life.

2024–2025 trend: why tracking subscriptions matters more than ever

A few trends make these examples of track recurring monthly expenses especially relevant in 2024–2025:

• Subscription everything: Software, entertainment, fitness, education—many companies now default to monthly billing.
• Price creep: Many services raise prices by a few dollars a year. If you’re not tracking, you may not notice until it’s doubled.
• Multiple payment methods: Some bills hit your credit card, others your bank account, others PayPal or a digital wallet. That fragmentation makes it easy to lose track.

This is exactly why the best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples focus on visibility first. Whether you use a spreadsheet, bank alerts, or a budgeting app, the goal is the same: see everything, then decide what stays.

FAQ: Common questions about tracking recurring monthly expenses

What are some common examples of recurring monthly expenses?

Common examples include rent or mortgage, utilities (electric, gas, water), internet, cell phone, car payments, insurance premiums, streaming services, gym memberships, cloud storage, and software subscriptions. These are classic examples of track recurring monthly expenses that most households deal with in some form.

Can you give an example of a simple recurring expense tracker?

A very simple example of a recurring expense tracker is a single-page spreadsheet with each bill listed in a row and columns for amount, due date, and whether it’s on auto-pay. Add a total at the top so you can see the full monthly impact at a glance. This mirrors the spreadsheet method described earlier and is one of the best examples of track recurring monthly expenses: 3 practical examples you can implement quickly.

How often should I review my recurring monthly expenses?

Most people do well with a monthly review that takes 15–20 minutes. Once a quarter, do a deeper review where you ask, “Do I still need this?” for every item on your list. This rhythm keeps your examples of track recurring monthly expenses up to date and prevents old, unused subscriptions from sticking around.

Are budgeting apps safe for tracking recurring expenses?

Reputable budgeting apps use bank-level encryption and security, and many rely on secure third-party data providers. Always use strong, unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication. If you’re unsure, start with your bank’s built-in tools, which are covered by existing banking security and regulations.

What’s the fastest way to find hidden subscriptions?

The fastest way is to scan your last 2–3 months of statements and look for small, repeated charges from the same merchant. Pair that with bank alerts so you see every time a subscription hits going forward. Within a month or two, you’ll have your own real examples of track recurring monthly expenses without guessing.

Tracking recurring expenses isn’t about perfection. It’s about awareness. Use these three practical examples as templates, pick the one that feels easiest, and start there. The first time you cancel a forgotten subscription and keep that money in your account instead, you’ll see exactly why this habit is worth it.