There are two highly accepted main streams to account for private cash; cash and accrued system. In the cash system we account for cash transactions as they happens, accrued takes into account to which period the transactions apply.

However, as we are dealing with your personal finances, any system that works is just fine. As such we suggest to take cash system as a basis from which to design your very own system. Cash is recommended because it requires less work, also because it gives a simple report of the situation as is in cash money.

Besides a simple list of income and expense you could categorise everything, into operational or non-operational. To provide you with an idea of how much was spend above what you always have to part with. Other categories, such as investment, fixed expenses or anything that applies to you can be added. A system of ledger would be better but also rather time consuming; you not only have to create the individual accounts, also open and close them around end of year, plus regular administrative work.

Also note that not only your regular bank account can be accounted for, also investment accounts are ripe for organising. The include not only buying and selling, also cost charged by the broker/bank and selling costs. Plus possibly even dividends, including taxes.

Please do not forget about how much cash you carry physically, it will always remain of value and should be included.

 

The key thing here is that it has to work for you, above are a few recommendations: Ignore them or use them. Adaptating is also a pretty good option.