A question was asked in this thread about why a poster keeps track of his spending to such a high level.
Rather than hijack that thread, I thought I would ask:
Do you keep detailed records of your finances, if so how, why and to what level of detail?
Personally, I’ve been using Quicken to keep track of all my financial dealings. I try to pay for everything with a credit card so it’s easier for me to track and categorize everything. Why? I have no idea other than I like to be able to se a total picture of my financial situation. I also started when I was in college when I had a lot less cash so I needed to be a lot more careful how I budgeted it out.
Well, I generally have a running guestimate for what I spend in a month. At the end of the year, I get a statement for everything I bought with a CC, and I can adjust my spending from there. Never any problems with this.
No. I am married and it is very simple. We have a budget that anticipates all household needs including mortgage, utilities, day care etc. We both a a roughly equal amount deducted electronically from our personal accounts for each pay check and put into the joint account to cover it. It always runs a surplus so there isn’t much of a problem there.
What is left over is each of ours to do with as we please. It pays for our own cars, clothes, and everything else. We aren’t poor so it isn’t much of a problem.
We also have both joint investments and personal investments. My wife seems to be talented at stock picking and has gotten herself tens of thousands of dollars in gains over the past 7 years while mine just kind of sat there.
Occasionally we will have to save for a big purpose together but that is somewhat rare. We just pitch in from our own savings usually.
I love this system because it is rather foolproof and non-socialistic. It also avoids the loss of automony that I feared with marriage.
We track all of our purchases buy looking at credit card bills and on-line bank statements a couple of times a week. If something is wrong, we will no it. No account is ever in danger of going to zero so there is no need to track everything to the penny every day.
I definitely keep track of my spending: I have a budget (of sorts) done up in Excel, I keep track of all of my checking account stuff in the register (I even balance my checkbook there), and I use Quicken to track all of my accounts. I’m also a big fan of my credit union’s online banking service, and my monthly bank statements are available there as PDFs that I save to my hard drive. And I get nice statements from AmEx and MasterCard at the end of every year, showing all of my purchases by category, which I scan and keep as PDFs.
I keep all kinds of records, though … it’s my anal-retentive nature.
Luckily I am in the position to not have to. I am single without kids. No student loans, no car payments. Less than 300$ in credit card debt. I know roughly what is in my account at all times. If there’s a question I just check it out online.
I budget all my expenses that don’t really vary from month to month and then from there I figure out what I can have as fast cash for the month/week. That can be spent however I like. I also try to budget an emergency/savings reserve in there too.
Too rigid and I’d never follow it, but I always have a ballpark figure knowledge of my spending and how much money I have in my account at any given time.
I use Quicken too. It makes budgeting easy and it’s so convenient to be able download investment and banking information. It can be eye opening to see where your money goes. Also, It can be a big help at tax time!
I have a pretty detailed budget. I budget for most everything including regular payments, estimated amounts (for things like food, gas, etc.), and some self imposed “annuities” (for things like once a year insurance premiums and other items that don’t get paid every month). I also have savings worked into my budget. I do have an amount of play money each month that I can spend however I want. I don’t track that other than the total.
I’d like to say I enter everything right away and never overlook a purcase in one of my budgeted categories. The truth is I regularly forget and end up wondering how much I’ve spent (Clothing is one I forget a lot: did I enter that shoe purchase already? how much were they again? did I purchase them this month or last?). Luckily, it’s pretty easy to recreate since I save all my receipts and usea debit or credit card for all but trivial purchases.
I track all my spending on a fairly simple spreadsheet I created (I’ve found most commercial budget programs to be too filled with complicated bloat features I don’t need). I make the vast majority of my purchases via debit card and just save the reciepts and enter the data in the next day. (the spreadsheet has about twenty of so different basic categories) I also reconcile with my online statement at least two to three times a week; the more often I do it, the easier it is.
I’ve only been doing this since November but it’s been really, really helpful. Previously, I had very little concept of how much money I had at any particular time and had a few costly errors. Now I know just how much money I have and when I can expect bills to arrive. I’m not super frugal but tracking my spending makes me think twice about buying “frivolous” stuff and I’m now two months away form having my credit card debt completely wiped out.
I do not. I check my accounts online a few times a month just to make sure there’s no funny business, but other than that, I don’t really keep track of anything.
I do try to exercise a little fiscal responsibility, though. I now browse the grocery store circulars and plan accordingly before I head out to shop. I buy many of my and the kids’ clothes and shoes on sale. I shop at Target or Wal*Mart for our household incidentals. I try to limit how often I eat expensive lunches. I also buy the store brand of medicines and some household cleaners.
Fortunately, however, I don’t have to keep a close eye on my spending. I don’t have to worry about when we get paid next or if I have enough money for whatever purchase I’m about to make. We have no credit card debt and both our cars are paid for. I have no budget, per se, and I don’t really have to watch the bottom line, as it were.
I don’t have any formal method, but I don’t spend a lot of money and I have an exquisite sense of how much I can or cannot afford to spend at any given moment and how much ought to be in my bank account. I check my balance every now and then to make sure things look right, but since there are usually only 5-8 transactions a month (check in, ATM withdrawals, rent, debit card purchases) there really isn’t a lot of mystery to it.
Not right now. Mind you, right now I’m saving about 90% of my income, so it’s not like I’m very worried (on location, employer pays pretty much for “anything except heavy drink, condoms and clothes”). I just open my bank’s webpage occasionally to look at the numbers go up; four years ago I had zip savings and now I have about 30% of the sking amount for house listings I like.
I usually keep careful track of my financial situation when it changes - for example, I’m in a new town (so I don’t know the prices yet), in a new apartment, with a new salary level… I do this for a couple of months, in order to create a reasonable budget. Then I simply stay within budget, I don’t need to track what I spend to know whether I’m in budget or not (yes, I know people who do, but I don’t).
Nope. I spent years having to in order to get through the week. After I started making real money, I lived in my cheap room for two more years and put some money in the bank. I then moved into a real apartment and decided to buy whatever I want. I’ve only had to take money out of the bank on three occassions. I also have the habit of putting cash into rarely used purses, so I also have money I can find if I need it.
I balance the checkbook manually each month and I pay bills on Saturday or Sunday each week. After paying bills, I announce, “We have $_ _ . _ to last us the week.” Then Mr. K says, “Jesus! How the fuck did that happen?” And I’ll rattle off the high credit card bill due to something he or I purchased, and he’ll say “Oh, yeah…ok.” and that’s that.
I use Quicken to keep track of everything. My wife hates me for it and thinks I’m too anal. I spend a couple hours every weekend updating it with the receipts for the week, paying bills, updating stock quotes etc. I have a tough time getting receipts out of her, especially for cash purchases and usually just reconcile them as misc. dining.
I don’t use a budget, its more to keep everything straight in one place (5 bank accounts, 4 credit cards, 8 investment accounts, car loans, housing mortgage etc.). There’s too much to keep straight and it’s nice to have a snap shot of net worth and make sure we’re on the right track for retirement. It came in handy in January when my wife quit her job (making much more money than me) and I was able to verify that my income alone would carry us with no spending changes.
I put everything into Quicken weekly. I’m a little lazy with categorizing the expenses but I am fanatic about entering everything. I reconcile the bank statement and credit card statement against the accounting every month.
I don’t have to worry much at all about watching the spending. I don’t spend all that much and I make a good living.
When I broke up with my wife, I refinaced the house to buy her out. The household income went down by 80%, the housing payment nearly doubled and I have way more extra money. Figure that one out.
Kind of. I know what my fixed expenses are, and I keep enough in my account to cover them. I don’t keep a checkbook, but I’m a math chickie, so I keep track of it all in my head.
This only applies to my personal checking account. I actually don’t handle the joint account; my husband does. All of the bills are in my his name, 'cause he was living on his own way before I was, and already have the accounts. He has a routine, and it’s just easier for him to keep on doing what he’s doing.
The downside to all of this is that–if I’m allowed a moment of honesty–I’m better at this kind of thing than he is. (That makes it about the <i>only</i> real-life thing I’m better at). I can look at a balance, estimate our costs, and know whether we have enough, or if we need to kick in from personal funds, or if we’re going to be completely fine and have enough extra to splurge/save. I’m also ahem better at remembering that, yes, the electric bill comes due every month. Even if you can’t find the physical bill.
So, yeah. Been meaning to have a talk with him about that. But, as to the question. . .I know what I’m spending, but I don’t keep detailed records.
I don’t keep track. I can barely keep track of what I owe (although that’s improving) but as to what I’ve spent already? No. I guess that’s why I’m always broke.
