How do you STOP budgeting?

**Daylily** · 12-27-2007, 05:48 PM

Interesting question! I used 2007 as an experiment year in which I would keep track of every penny. I'm looking forward to being able to look at the grand totals of various categories as a percentage of income.

I've been wondering what I'm going to do when Jan 1, 2008 hits. Am I going to continue to write down everything?????

**Broken Arrow** · 12-27-2007, 05:48 PM

I just don't think tracking every expense for the rest of my life is a healthy way to live.

It's not? In that case, I'll meet you at the funny farm.

**herm4** · 12-28-2007, 04:40 AM

Instead of an addiction, I prefer to call it "my hobby".

**filifefc** · 12-28-2007, 05:54 AM

I had a the addiction a while back, but I didn't really see the value of keeping track of every single little thing and filing each thing under a category. So now, I just use a credit card for everything and review it at the end of the month and see where the big expenses are and if they were really necessary in order to try to do better after that.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 12-28-2007, 06:49 AM

You could substituter another obsession---something else you would like to master.

**Ima saver** · 12-28-2007, 07:47 AM

I do the envelope method, but I do not write down every penny that I spend. I get an allowance and when it is gone, it is gone. I also have a misc. envelope that I use if my allowance is gone.

**PrincessPerky** · 12-28-2007, 08:00 AM

Of all the OCD habits I think tracking spending to the penny is prolly a good, non dangerous one..I can see where it might get in the way sometimes, but in general...it is prolly no big deal.

If you want to stop, try switching to less categories. For example if you record pop and a movie out, combine em, both are entertainment.

**project15** · 12-28-2007, 09:26 AM

It's not a matter of not having any other hobbies or things to fill my time, it's just that I feel that if I didn't track every penny, I wouldn't save as much as I do. $10 here and $10 there every month that's not accounted for can add up to quite a bit of missed savings/interest.

I guess that does sound quite a bit OCD. Maybe I should get counseling...oh wait, that would count as money lost

**LuxLiving** · 12-28-2007, 09:34 AM

Stop? hmmm...I don't know about stopping, but how about taking your physical self out of most of the loop?

You could do as we do - cash out only for allowances/blow money, then pay all other purchases w/either checks, debit card & credit card that is paid off monthly, and then use a software accounting/budgeting program that downloads all your transactions from the banks and CCcompanies?

You've still tracked the majority of all spending excepting the little blown in allowances but taken a lot of the sweat out of the equation.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 12-28-2007, 09:40 AM

I only track groceries and eating out. Everything else is pretty much a given number. I don't track stuff like mortgage, utilities (balanced billing), car insurnace, etc. So maybe you could track just the little categories?

Spending, groceries, eating out. I've found I'm just more conscious about our groceries, eating out if I do. But I don't stick to hard fast budget.

**project15** · 12-28-2007, 09:53 AM

Originally posted by LuxLiving View Post

Stop? hmmm...I don't know about stopping, but how about taking your physical self out of most of the loop?

You could do as we do - cash out only for allowances/blow money, then pay all other purchases w/either checks, debit card & credit card that is paid off monthly, and then use a software accounting/budgeting program that downloads all your transactions from the banks and CCcompanies?

You've still tracked the majority of all spending excepting the little blown in allowances but taken a lot of the sweat out of the equation.

Well I guess that's basically what I'm doing - except I manually enter them into an excel sheet that updates the balances of each category every time we get paid and subtracts when things are paid. I've tried the budgeting software, but it seems to be more of a hassle than what I've already programmed into excel (I'm a software engineer, so it's a pretty advanced tool right now). With the software, you still have to assign it groups since it tries to be smart and assign it to a certain group rather than what I want it to be assigned to.

**project15** · 12-28-2007, 09:54 AM

Originally posted by LivingAlmostLarge View Post

I only track groceries and eating out. Everything else is pretty much a given number. I don't track stuff like mortgage, utilities (balanced billing), car insurnace, etc. So maybe you could track just the little categories?

Spending, groceries, eating out. I've found I'm just more conscious about our groceries, eating out if I do. But I don't stick to hard fast budget.

You may have something here. I'll probably end up doing something like that to ween myself off eventually.

**boefixepa** · 12-28-2007, 10:45 AM

Well I'm to the point where I just pick and dump. The program down loads the transactions and drop them into a cyber envelope. Most all bills are automated or close to it. Really the only things I have to keep an eye on are groceries and eating out. Other than that I really don't think about it much. I spen less then a minute every day or two, with maybe 10 min a month to reconcile things, on the 'budgeting'.

You get so use to it you just 'know' where things are at and once you are past the stressing of wether or not you have enough money for this or that... it became less obsessive for me. I know the system is working and I just keep an eye on it.

**Tightwad Kitty** · 12-28-2007, 08:44 PM

I have found that tracking does help when you on a low income (pension).
I have been tracking for over 20 years on and off, an daily for the last 6 years, now that I have put it on a spreadsheet I can see my highs and lows.

I don't worry about what I spend each day, I just track it and then at the end of each month balance it and put in the spread sheet. If I'm over Budget then I will need to cut back in next few months to make up for a spending spree. But I do have the finger on the pulse so that I never have any major blow-out.

So I never will stop tracking completely, slow things down so it's just second nature.

How do you STOP budgeting?