Time spent on finances

[rabbitfoot]

I find that I spend alot of time on my budget and money matters in general each week. I would like to know how much time everyone spends on these money issues and if they have any tricks or hints to cut down on the time. I know that money and saving is important, but I wish it didn't take up so much of my time.

[crosses]

I do set aside one hour every Monday night to make sure my bank account it balanced, bills that need to be paid are and stuff like that (I usually don't need the full time because I have gotten much better at taking care of those things as soon as they arrive). I must admit that I did spend a lot more time when we were in debt and I had to watch every penny a lot closer. Now that we have breathing room, I can afford to be less strict.

[DivaJen]

Hard to say. I balance my checkbook as I go. I pay bills in groups, so I may sit down once or twice during a week and pay 2-4 bills at a time. I update an excel file of medical expenses each time we go to the doctor, pharmacy, etc.

Spread out over a week, I don't think this amounts to more than 30-45 minutes.

We have our taxes done (business and personal) so that is a huge time saver for us come spring.

Now - how much time do I spend reading and thinking about finances? A lot more.

[PennyPincher]

I probably spend more than necessary, but right now I'm obsessed... I have a spreadsheet that I update every day, accounting for every single penny spent. It took me a few hours to initially set up the spreadsheet to automatically compute balances for me and to determine what percentage of my income is going to specific categories, etc... Now it just takes me two minutes a day to input any receipts from the previous day.

As for paying bills, I am not one to pay them when they come in. I have enough in my account to do so, but I've always leaned more toward keeping the money in my account until it HAS to go out. (Why let the companies earn more interest on my money...?) So, about once a week I pay any bills due the following week. I have one of those 30-day sorters, so it's a quick glance to know what goes out, and when.

It feels like much more because like DivaJen, I think about it ALOT. In actuality, it could be 1 hour per week.

[vendigirl]

I spend at least a few minutes on the computer checking the bank balances and downloading the market values of our investments. Generally speaking, I don't spend a lot of time actually taking care of financial matters, but I definitley spend a lot of time "playing" with them. I run a lot of reports through Quicken and obsess over where the money is going, how much more I can put toward debt etc. In total I probably spend 5 hours a week, but only 1/2 hour or so is actual banking. I find it easier to stay motivated and on track with the budget when I look at it every day. I know that once I get the Visa bill licked I'll settle down some and not spend quite so much time and effort obsessing. I hope.

[liveandchi]

I feel like I spend every waking hour on finances. That is what happens when you don't spend anytime on them when you should. I pobably don't spend a great deal of time on the numbers, but I have been spending alot of time on getting everything organized and find out where the money is going. I also spend all my extra time trying to figure out how to spend less and get our budget to work. We're paying the price for not caring about this for a long time (or rather ignoring it).

[2moretrees]

I spend a lot more time on expenses now than I used to. I think this is the case when you are trying to get out of debt. When you have to watch every penny and think of ways to save more, you spend more time than when you only watch every penny. Alot of time goes into thinking about other things you can do to save.

[Tree0164]

I don't spend much time on finances. I think about them alot but the actual bill paying etc is real quick for me. I log in and do online banking. I check my bank 2-3 times a week to make sure various money is correct coming in and going out.

I check our financial statements once a quarter like 401k and various mutual funds.

[choconut]

I balance my check book every time I write a check for a big amount, this is twice or three times a month. I enter my expenses almost everyday... this is hardly a minute or 2, I use software for this. I do spend 1 - 2 hours every sat or sun morning reading about investment options etc. I don't think I can cut down my budgeting and expense tracking time... I might be able to cut down my reading bit because most of the time, I don't make any changes to my plan based on what I read... but I like the reading...

[txjman]

I think about my finances at least once an hour. I check my account balances daily. I know how much I owe and to whom. I have a spreadsheet with my budget and the total amount due to my creditors. I am tracking the approxiamte payoff dates for all my debts. After I pay a bill I love to open the spreadsheet and see my debt decrease. I am a long way away from be debt free, but it gives me hope.

I think I'll go check it right now.