Uffda, nothing has come out of it for me, either! DH is going fishing for two weeks, though, so maybe I can establish a routine of it to get quick again . . . nothing worse than him breathing down my neck to use the computer and me fumbling around trying to remember how to download XYZ transactions. Maybe a good old paper record!! It's working well for my exercise tracking, anyway!We'll keep at it rozie . . . keep on keepin' on . . .
Hello,
I have been reading and intending to reply to this thread for over a month! Finally here! I have been tracking for just over 1 year now. I tried those pre-made programs but found them difficult to customize to what I needed. I chose to record each transaction by voice memo in my cell phone when it happens. Then every few days I sit down and type them in an excel worksheet.
I am getting much out of the tracking. Some months I spend more than I earned!eek! Most months I save, sometimes more than expected.
Now that I have the habit it is not so bad to keep up with. I have found using mostly cash makes it easier. When I use a debit card, then have to record each transaction twice (checkbook & excel tracking) I get frustrated.
I know debit cards are supposed to make it easier to track EVERYTHING and just import all my transactions. I have not found that to be the case.
I am grateful there is an online community here for YMYL and hope I can continue to contribute.
Sincerely,
David
Welcome, David, and glad you were finally able to post! Thanks for sticking with it! I love the voice memo idea. Will have to think about that one for sure.
Hi all!!
Finally! Finally! A MONTH after I cleaned up Moneydance and donned my best expectations, I updated my tracking. Everything is UTD now. I am going to make a real effort to keep up more often than once a month!
I have had to make some compromises from my former way of tracking.
1) I am not as detailed as I used to be. I had clothing: necessary, clothing: winter, clothing: fun, clothing: shoes. Now it's just clothing. This is partly because who am I to decide if DH's clothing purchases are necessary or fun? Also, it was just soooooo cumbersome. Simplified that.
2) Took out the retirement and mortgage accounts. The program did not track the balances accurately anyway. I just set them up as expense categories. I can watch them on networth or in Excel when I get the bug to see our net worth. It's quite an effort to update all of that, although it is, perhaps, interesting to know. In true YMOYL, net worth doesn't play in. It's all about the monthly in-flow/out-flow.
3) I give up on tracking cash. ATM withdrawals are "misc." So there.
4) I also am not tracking gift cards, which I used to track as cash. Ay ay ay.
We will still have a pretty good picture of where we are spending and if it's worth it to us. If we don't want so much misc., well, then, we will need to use cash less often. I know it's not in the true spirit of Financial Integrity to get close. But it's so much better than nothing . . .
ETA: I also did Real Hourly Wage for both of us. His is a little lower than mine due to commute costs and his longer days at work. He works fewer days but routinely works longer days.
I average them out for tracking purposes. How do other couples handle that if you do the questions? Do you each use your own RHW as the number, or the averaged number? We're pretty close, so it doesn't matter that much in our big picture.
I could see in a couple where the RHW's were really different, say if one person has a different level of education or a vastly higher paying job, where it could lead to trouble. What takes one person 2 hours of life energy to pay for might not be worth it to them, but it might be only half an hour of the other's life energy, and they feel it is worth it! Trouble!
How 'bout you all?!
Last edited by fidgiegirl; 6-26-12 at 9:21pm.
Gnucash user here. When putting something that ends up in the Misc category I make sure to label what it is/was. Some purchases, if easily separate-able I do so when recording it (say getting donuts and a Sunday paper).
I start with a portable notebook and write all my purchases down in it, and have only been delayed by two days at the most before recording everything.
I started tinkering with a way to include my work sponsored retirement investments in my monthy tracking. I figure since it is an actual part of my financial picture I need to be aware of it to be Financially Intelligent.
I decided to make a category of retirement to place the amount I contribute from my income each month. This category also will include the amount contributed by my employer, which will also be included in my income.
Then I compare the Fair Market Value of the portfolio each month beginning and end. The balance will be included in my total assets for balancing. The increase in the account value minus the amount contributed that month is the investment income which will have its own category.
Last edited by iamdavidspersonaleconomy; 7-2-12 at 5:10pm. Reason: Typo
David - ah, retirement funds . . . I am trying to figure out a better way to have these on the radar other than the quarterly statements. Just by reacquainting myself with tracking I realized we are putting collectively $2000 a month into these kinds of funds, and I don't even really watch if that is just money down the drain, or if they are doing ok, or what.
Completed June tracking and caught up through July. Interesting to look at though we thought we were doing well with restaurants, for example, we spent $250 on restaurant food in June. Now some of that was on DH's fishing trip so that wasn't too bad, all told.
The retirement reminder was a good one. Time to look at that again, especially if we are going to be looking at paying off the mortgage. I also want to reconfirm if the funds will allow us to withdraw if we retire (much) earlier than most. I believe they will. I seem to recall I chose them specifically for that. If that's our goal, it doesn't make sense to lock up ALL our money in funds that won't allow us to access them until 60-something except with a penalty. Although it seems that usually you can get your contributions back out before that with no problem, just not earnings. Rambling, sorry . . .
I have finally reconnected with the joy of tracking!! Hopefully all of you are still game for continuing this thread, though, because I'm far from back into habit mode yet . . . thanks for being here!
Tracking for June is completed!
I now see I have almost $10,000 in retirement funds & I put over $500 into them this month. Before I was just ignoring it and reducing my income by $500 each month. I felt more poor & I felt like an ostrich with my head in the retirement sand.By seeing the amount in there & the amount I am putting in each month, I am taking responsibility for my retirement.
Like you said, I will be reviewing the investments each quarter. I need to own my retirement money. This is part of my personal economy and just turning it over to investment managers in a mutual fund does not make them responsible for it.
/David
I've added my wall chart to a new post.
I'm going to get back into tracking. I have my home made spreadsheets from the early 2000's and it is fun and enlightening to go back and look at them, even the ones that only have January and the January 1 balances on all my accounts. I found out in black and white pixels last night that I've paid off $22K in credit cards alone this past year. One more payment and they are all at 0. I also see I've paid off $4K on my Jeep (in storage back in the US) and almost $1K on the mortgage (on house I haven't lived in for 5 years).
I tweeked the categories to more closely show my life down here for this next year, and I'll track December as a 'trial run'.
Bad spellers of the world, UNTIE!
formerly known as Paula P
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