Since we're nice, we're going to give you $100.

Sure, it's hypothetical money, but it's the thought that counts, right?

If you just popped that hundred in your wallet and didn't think about, it would probably be gone pretty quickly. (Starbursts add up, dude.) Here's how it would probably go in Shmoopland.

30 seconds after getting the money: OMGGG $100 MUST BUY PERSONALIZED IPHONE CASE.
$42 gone.
15 minutes after getting the money: playing around with iPhone in cool new case.
$6 in charges for apps and music. Didn't even notice.
1 hour later: "Hey, we're loaded. Let's go see Pitch Perfect 4 and buy movie fooood."
$13 for movie ticket + 16 for popcorn, soda, and milk duds.
Movie's over: "$23 left? Eh, that's not that much, so we might as well just buy those knock-off Toms we've been wanting."

End scene.

If you don't keep track of your spending, your money has a funny way of, uh, getting spent. A chocolate bar here, a song download there, a retro OneD poster over there (it's for your little sister, we know), and—poof!—that $100 is gone.

Why is it so easy to burn through cash? Well, it's partly because lots of people are really interested in getting your hard-earned cash. Marketers and advertisers are paid—and pay other people a ton—to get you to toss your money into their products and services.

So how can you make sure that you hold onto that $100—or at least spend it on something worthwhile?

Enter: spending record.

It sounds fancy, but a spending record is just a list of where you spend your money. If you write down everything you spend money on, you can then look over it and analyze where you're spending most of your money. You might realize, for example, that you're spending a lot of money on snacks—and you probably don't need three McFlurries a week. Until you see it in writing, it's hard to know where all that money's going.

Here's a template for a spending record. Feel free to copy it as is for your own use or make some tweaks.

Each time you buy something, just jot it down. After a week—or a month, depending on how much money you spend—take a look. Do you like what you see? Would you have spent your money differently?

Oh, and can we borrow $100?