Question about tracking savings

[vsjhoc]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Hey now. I too would like to join the club... because that's what I do as well.

Of course, I get to cheat a little bit thanks to technology doing all the work for me.

Yet another person afflicted with Compulsive Expense Tracking Disorder ...

I'm thinking of trying Jesse's YNAB -- it looks pretty simple and there has been a good response to it in some of these posts. Any thoughts?

[Broken Arrow]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Yet another person afflicted with Compulsive Expense Tracking Disorder ...

Guilty as charged!

Do I get bonus points for the fact that it's always available with me, on my cellphone, including my budget, my debt tracking, as well as my net worth?

[vsjhoc]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Guilty as charged!

Do I get bonus points for the fact that it's always available with me, on my cellphone, including my budget, my debt tracking, as well as my net worth?

Please, I beg of you, go blow $5 tonight on something, anything, and record it as "miscellaneous."

Are you tracking your 3 FICO scores up to the minute as well?

[Bookie]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Oh good. A meeting of Compulsives Anonymous. Can I sit in?

My name is Bookie, and I'm a Compulsive Expense Tracker. I carry a daily index card on which I record any (and I do mean any) spending that I do. The amounts are transferred to an Excel spreadsheet {Date, Amount, Purchase, Category, Notes]. The workbook has a sheet for each month, and I've been keeping these things for years.

Savings Accounts have their own Workbook with a sheet for each account and a linked summary sheet that automatically updates.

Finally, I run my check register in a programmed Excel spreadsheet that also serves as a budget planner.

You think there's any hope?

[tgavin71]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Hope That I don't know but what I do know is that I am a reformed Compulsive Expense Tracker. I used to track every cent. Which is good to do for a while to assess where the money goes but after a few months it become a big pain. If I were single it wouldn't be too bad but with a partner who travels for work it is hard to keep track of what he is spending. Usually he was pretty good. Though rarely did the actual amount spent equal what he told me. Sometimes my spending tracking was out at the end of the fortnight by $20 other times by $200. It caused a lot of fights.
Now what I do is this. After going through each bill I work out how much I need to put away fortnightly ( this is when we get paid) all of these amounts in our case is $600. Included on the list are school excursions, kids activities, gas, land line, mobiles, internet, car, home and contents insurance, water, rates, electricity, rego, car repairs,christmas and holidays. This $600 is automatically transfered into a high interest saving account and I transfer it back when I need it.
Hubby gets $150 a fortnight which he uses for everything he needs. Food, clothes, entertainment etc.
$725 comes out in automatic payments for the mortgage, car, sharefund and education.
The balance of $600 is taken in cash for everything else. However I often find I have a lot of this left over at the end of the fortnight.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: Question about tracking savings

Please, I beg of you, go blow $5 tonight on something, anything, and record it as "miscellaneous."

I don't have that category. It's... too... vague.

Are you tracking your 3 FICO scores up to the minute as well?

Haha. No, I'm not that bad.

Although, that doesn't sound like a bad idea....

(Kidding!)

[lrjohnson]

Re: Question about tracking savings

I have tracked everything since 4/98 in Quicken. I'm so used to it now. I had 10201.72 in expenses, and 10,308.83 income, in 1999!

I love having this information. I have very few monthly bills: four. I live simply. Not a whole lot of entries to make. I wouldn't have been brave enough to tackly my Minimum Wage Challenge without having my expenses at my fingertips.

It's a completely integrated part of my life. Not the Quikcen; it's just what I have. But the idea of tracking my spending.