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Follow the captures, state the balance
Pro tip: Never count the army still on the board. Count the pieces that left it; the list only grows.
A real game is read out to you one move at a time, with no board anywhere, and at the end you say who is ahead and by how much. Counting the pieces still standing means counting up to thirty-two things you cannot see, which nobody does twice. Counting what left the board means holding a short list that only ever grows, and crossing out the pairs as they cancel: a pawn for a pawn, a knight for a bishop, gone. What is left is one line, and one line is cheap to carry while the game continues.
Getting this wrong in a blindfold game is not a small error. You will decline a trade you should take, or play for a win in a position you are losing, and you will not find out until the position collapses. It is also the first thing that goes when the picture blurs, which makes it a useful early-warning light: if you cannot say the balance, stop and rebuild the position you were sure of. The technique is set out in the material tracking lesson, and the companion skill, holding the position itself rather than the score, is drilled in move sequences.