Ever find an unexplained expense on your credit card or in your checking account? My budget is updated at least once a week, so I know every expense that should be coming out of my account. On the rare occasion I do find an unexplained expense and so discuss it with my husband to see if it was a purchase he made (I’m the one who makes most of the purchases in the house).

There was one time that an expense came up on our credit card from a US company (we’re in Canada) and we quickly realized that it wasn’t a purchase we made but was mis-expensed to our credit card. I believe the company saw the mistake quickly and reimbursed the money right away, but because it was US dollars charged to our credit card there was also an exchange rate charged.

When it was reimbursed the exchange rate charges were not reimbursed as well. I called the company to ask where the extra couple dollars was and they said we’d have to talk to our credit card company because they were the ones that applied those charges. So after one more phone call to our credit card company, we had the full amount reimbursed to us. The extra expenses on my credit care were all quickly and easily resolved, but I had to be aware of my expenses in the first place to know that it didn’t belong. Plus I had to be willing to make the calls to make sure all of the money was reimbursed.

On another occasion, a friend told me a couple of years ago that they saw an expense in their account for about $100 that they didn’t know what it was for, but he just dismissed it and didn’t think anything of it. His wife knew what it was for (items purchased secretly for a surprise retirement party hoping he wouldn’t find out). I found it so surprising that he dismissed such a large sum, especially since I’m able to know every expense and know down to the very penny how much is in my account (using CalendarBudget). My thought now is that he knew he was retiring soon and probably realized his loving wife would be up to something, so would wait a few weeks to see what came of it.

Stay on top of your finances, easily knowing your daily expenses with CalendarBudget‘s calendar view, thus avoiding any expenses being mis-expensed to you. Sign up for a free 1 month trial at https://calendarbudget.com.

How do you stay aware of the expenses in your account to avoid paying for something you didn’t actually purchase?