Tracking my spending

[The Storyteller]

I'm retiring soon and so I want to get a tighter hold on my spending habits. I'm already budgeting, but want to do more so figure it's time to start to track my spending again, a la YMOYL.

I'm curious how and if anyone even does that any more. If so, what are your mechanics? I remember years ago on here or the old site, people were starting to transition to using their credit cards for it and just tracking it based on their statements. I'd like to keep it a bit tighter than that so I can view what it was actually spent on as opposed to just an amount at a certain place.

So, do you track your spending? If so, what are your mechanics and thinking behind your strategy?

Thanks much, and have a great day.

[Tybee]

I'm retiring soon and so I want to get a tighter hold on my spending habits. I'm already budgeting, but want to do more so figure it's time to start to track my spending again, a la YMOYL.

I'm curious how and if anyone even does that any more. If so, what are your mechanics? I remember years ago on here or the old site, people were starting to transition to using their credit cards for it and just tracking it based on their statements. I'd like to keep it a bit tighter than that so I can view what it was actually spent on as opposed to just an amount at a certain place.

So, do you track your spending? If so, what are your mechanics and thinking behind your strategy?

Thanks much, and have a great day.

I know a lot of people here use computer budgets like YNAB. As a paper person, I try to keep it written down in a little book, and I have tried using a checkbook register and writing down everything I spend there.
My problem comes in doing something with what I have spent--that ,I think, is why the computer spending records are so popular.

So I have not been as successful as I would like, and would appreciate hearing what others are doing, too.

[herbgeek]

Yep, track monthly spending for the same reason: wanting to understand true expenses for retirement planning. I use a paper and pen, and then total things up by category each month and put into an excel spreadsheet. I likely could load some apps but this is easy enough.

When I come home from shopping, I throw the receipt on my desk and throw it away once it is logged. When I do on line shopping, I just write it down then. The only thing I have to remember is when I use cash, but that's pretty rare anyways.

As far as categories, I have a bunch relating to the house (taxed, maintenance, household consumables, oil, utilities...), some for the cars (gas, maintenance, tolls, repairs), some for food (food consumed at home, food out, food with friends), and personal spending. I will likely have fewer categories next year, but it was good to be granular and look at if I am getting the value out of my purchases.

[Tybee]

Herbgeek, that is exactly what I need to be doing. Did you make the Excel spreadsheet yourself?

[Yppej]

I use a notebook and have gotten laxer over the years in my categories. For instance, I just record groceries as one line item rather than splitting out food from things like soap and toilet paper. I also have a column for left to spend this month and stay on budget.

[herbgeek]

Did you make the Excel spreadsheet yourself?

Yes, I have the months across the top and categories down the left side. I have totals for each category for the year, as well as total spent each month. Its low tech, but it works for me. It also makes me more mindful about impulse splurges knowing I'll have to account to myself at the end of the month. :)

[iris lilies]

Hey OP, good for you! I retired from the city library system here 2.5 years ago.

Please tell me you arent going to be one of those people who retire on a Friday and come into the library the following Monday to volunteer for whatever. Those people always made me go "hunh?"

i visit the branch library near my house about once a week to check out materials and read magazines. Just recently I was strong armed into a silly project to organize a small collection there, one that is fairly useless, but I pasted a smile on my face and said (after my time was volunteered by someone else) "why sure, I will do that Work!" Once a librarian always a librarian, I guess, at least as others see you.

[Gardnr]

We've tracked since 2000. I have an excel spreadsheet setup by our major categories. I continue to do this even though we are debt-free and retirement funded. I still want to know where our money goes. It keeps us mindful of spending and focused on being sure our expenditures have value to us.

It's really cool to look back at us over time. I'll email you my template if you want it. lbq4u@yahoo.com

[flowerseverywhere]

Cheap notebook and pencil. Just copy each month main headings like food, personal care, health care etc
also write balances of every account every month. Have a small stack of notebooks since 1978 when gas rose to 65 cents a gallon and I made a little over 12,000 as a registered nurse. I could make dinner for two for under a dollar. We have some incomplete two years before that but then I got serious.

Fewer categories these days. Fun to look at how spending changed but more importantly the power of compounding savings.

[pinkytoe]

I make a spreadsheet every January with known fixed and variable expenses with a column for each monthly total. I keep receipts to tabulate and add to the spreadsheet at the end of the month. For example, tabulate all grocery receipts and then final amount total is entered. I have separated out a few misc categories (coffee, pets, alcohol, etc) just so I have an idea on those types of variable expenses. I don't generally track misc small expenses as I don't spend much that way. The very last column is what I use for averaging categories at the end of the year thus I know that I spend an average monthly of $400 on groceries, $140 on utilities, $55 on pets, $25 on coffee, etc. It allows me to see fairly precisely what our monthly expenses are and plan for the next year. I have been doing this for at least 15 years and find it very helpful for understanding our spending in retirement and where to cut back if needed. I enjoy the process so I don't see it as a chore.

[catherine]

I started out with paper and pencil in little notebooks. I'd do daily pages of expenses and then tally it up weekly by hand to see what I see what I spent. With the emergence of the computer I graduated to an Excel sheet I created myself, like Herbgeek's, and I set up formulas to calculate totals for the month as well as a formula delta between budgeted and actual. I did that for several years.

Then I got into Dave Ramsey and used his tracking system for a short time, but found it cumbersome, so I followed tips from other Ramsey fans and emigrated to YNAB, which is what I do now. Unfortunately they went from an offline version of the software to a web-based version which I don't like as much, because I like knowing if there's an internet outage I can still access it, and also because it's now a yearly subscription instead of a one-time cost. But it's quite user-friendly, once you learn the basic set-up. And I love the reports I can generate.

[ToomuchStuff]

I used to track and did it with a pocket notebook and keeping ALL receipts. I then transferred it to Gnucash, so I could check categories and such. (normally transferred it all at the end of the night, before going to bed)

[Oddball]

I've been tracking for years but no longer use categories, just one monthly grand total. I can't be bothered with spreadsheets, etc., so I use a pen and scratch paper. At the end of each day, I scribble the day's total. At the end of the month, I add it all up. I keep a running monthly average as well and then figure a final average for the year. This might seem too simple, but my spending has gone down every year while my savings have gone way up.

[catherine]

One other thing (may be OT, but why track money if I don't feed it into a budget?): When I budget I use a version of the categories laid out in Warren's "All Your Worth": The overall categories are "Must-Have's" "Wants" and "Savings." So in my "Must-Have's" are the basic things: rent, utilities, "basic" food (groceries, essentially), gas, basic home needs, etc. Wants are entertainment, "splurge food" (take-out, for instance), vacation, gifts, etc.

I like this because it tells me exactly how much fat I could cut if I really want or need to get aggressive about non-spending.

[SteveinMN]

So, do you track your spending? If so, what are your mechanics and thinking behind your strategy?

We started tracking spending before I left Corporate America five years ago. We wanted to see what kind of income we needed to bring in once mine went away. Job 1 was discovering what we were spending our money on.

My workflow is pretty much like herbgeek's. I'm using a Mac-only personal-finance app which works very well. But I'm a bit concerned about the app's long-term future (only product of a small developer and updates are long-promised but infrequent), so I'm looking to transfer to Gnucash. I do not have the app hooked into our smartphones or our bank accounts, primarily because I want to categorize things my way without having to massage so much of whatever is uploaded from elsewhere.

It's worked well for us. Spending money/cash is a little hard to categorize so it balances out. So we try to put categorizable expenses (groceries, eating out, fuel) on a card and just watch the overall amount of cash taken out of the bank. When it seems like we're taking out more than we think we should, we'll revisit that.

The biggest issue is with some of DW's spending. Not that she spends money! But debit card/CC entries for places at which DW has spent money are just "amounts at certain places". Without a receipt, it's very difficult to categorize properly (for history and budgeting). But DW is an adult not given to being a spendthrift and she brings in most of our income. Some of it is reimbursed by others (she buys groceries for her mother, etc.). So I think she's entitled to spend money without The Spanish Inquisition. That spending adds up to around $200-250 a month, though, so there's a bit of a hole in our finances. That amount doesn't make us or break us, so I don't plan to change anything.

[goldensmom]

I started keeping track of every penny I spent two years before I retired which helped me see where the money went and how much. I was 46 at the time but was hoping for an early out deal from the state. The early out came about and that was 15 years ago. The savings from expenses of employment (car, gas - 45 miles one way-, upkeep, clothes, office expenses, lunches, buying something for dinner on the way home rather than cooking, etc..) helped tremendously in being able to retire. I still write down every penny I spend mostly out of habit. I use a small notebook and every cent I spend goes into a category. I do not have limits in my categories but am frugal enough to not need any. My husband, conversely, if it is in his hands, he spends it. He has no idea where his money goes but as long as ends continue to meet I guess that is okay.

[Tybee]

One other thing (may be OT, but why track money if I don't feed it into a budget?): When I budget I use a version of the categories laid out in Warren's "All Your Worth": The overall categories are "Must-Have's" "Wants" and "Savings." So in my "Must-Have's" are the basic things: rent, utilities, "basic" food (groceries, essentially), gas, basic home needs, etc. Wants are entertainment, "splurge food" (take-out, for instance), vacation, gifts, etc.

I like this because it tells me exactly how much fat I could cut if I really want or need to get aggressive about non-spending.

That is such a great book, Catherine!

[catherine]

That is such a great book, Catherine!

yeah, I really like it! Makes so much sense, and is so informative.

[dado potato]

SteveinMN:

In our house the domain of budgeting, paying bills, and managing finances is mine. We do things on a "common pot basis". Virtually every time there is a transaction there is a receipt, and the expectation is receipts are all turned over to me for analysis and filing. Also, for unreciepted transactions -- like the Salvation Army Kettle, the barber -- the expectation is to make a best effort to let me know promptly.

BUT, I believe that adults can become uncomfortable and feel overly-controlled if there is a demand that they report everything to the designated manager of the family finances. So to maintain a higher comfort level, I say that I am not "obsessive" about this... I am not trying for 100% accounting for every cent. There can be ATM withdrawals or "cash back" on debit card purchases which aren't necessarily explained. If I ask, it is OK with me if the expenditure is called "walking around" or "jingling" money. In my experience cutting open-ended slack is not a budget-buster. I enjoy the voluntary co-operation of my dear wife, and she can spend a little money on a guilty pleasure when she wants to. I think that's the way I would want it if the roles were reversed. While my records and analysis are not 100% accurate, I am quite certain I have a handle on where more than 98% of the family expenditure is going.

[catherine]

SteveinMN:

In our house the domain of budgeting, paying bills, and managing finances is mine. We do things on a "common pot basis". Virtually every time there is a transaction there is a receipt, and the expectation is receipts are all turned over to me for analysis and filing. Also, for unreciepted transactions -- like the Salvation Army Kettle, the barber -- the expectation is to make a best effort to let me know promptly.

BUT, I believe that adults can become uncomfortable and feel overly-controlled if there is a demand that they report everything to the designated manager of the family finances. So to maintain a higher comfort level, I say that I am not "obsessive" about this... I am not trying for 100% accounting for every cent. There can be ATM withdrawals or "cash back" on debit card purchases which aren't necessarily explained. If I ask, it is OK with me if the expenditure is called "walking around" or "jingling" money. In my experience cutting open-ended slack is not a budget-buster. I enjoy the voluntary co-operation of my dear wife, and she can spend a little money on a guilty pleasure when she wants to. I think that's the way I would want it if the roles were reversed. While my records and analysis are not 100% accurate, I am quite certain I have a handle on where more than 98% of the family expenditure is going.

The Dave Ramsey budget has a category for "blow money" (having lived through the Studio 54 era, I'm never comfortable with that term) which is an agreed upon sum of money that each person gets with no conditions--they can blow it any way they want. However, there is a lot of room for a person to feel controlled. I know DH felt that way at times when I filled his envelope with his blow money every week, even though I filled up mine with the same amount. It was like giving a kid an allowance. But we did save more money during that time.

[goldensmom]

SteveinMN:
BUT, I believe that adults can become uncomfortable and feel overly-controlled if there is a demand that they report everything to the designated manager of the family finances..

I am the money manager in the household but do not control ALL of the money, just the money I bring into the household and 'common' money. My husband puts an amount in the household account for house and home expenditures which I then disburse but beyond that whatever he brings home is his to spend as he wishes. I am the frugal one and record all my pennies spent and and he just spends with no accounting. Fortunately it works for us.

[SteveinMN]

BUT, I believe that adults can become uncomfortable and feel overly-controlled if there is a demand that they report everything to the designated manager of the family finances. So to maintain a higher comfort level, I say that I am not "obsessive" about this... I am not trying for 100% accounting for every cent. There can be ATM withdrawals or "cash back" on debit card purchases which aren't necessarily explained. If I ask, it is OK with me if the expenditure is called "walking around" or "jingling" money. In my experience cutting open-ended slack is not a budget-buster. I enjoy the voluntary co-operation of my dear wife, and she can spend a little money on a guilty pleasure when she wants to. I think that's the way I would want it if the roles were reversed. While my records and analysis are not 100% accurate, I am quite certain I have a handle on where more than 98% of the family expenditure is going.
Exactly. Apparently I didn't present my "issue" clearly. DW is a responsible adult. For many reasons, I've chosen not to pursue the amount of DW's monthly spending that ends up tagged "Miscellaneous". I'm sure the supermarket and Target are giving DW receipts; I don't ask to see them.

My point is that, from a tracking/reporting standpoint, shoving $250 month into a generic category like "Miscellaneous" does not illustrate what we're spending that money on. For us, that would be like choosing not to keep track of what we spend on utilities every month (about the same amount). But we do it because we are adults.

Missing data points complicate reporting. It's a downside of the way we've chosen to track our money. It certainly has nothing to do with controlling anyone. Nor is it a matter of obsession. It's just that the person who manages the finances worked 30 years in IT managing data :) and knows that you can't well manage what you can't (or don't) measure.

[catherine]

Missing data points complicate reporting. It's a downside of the way we've chosen to track our money.

I agree.. if you want to track your money, you have to figure out a way to account for those "blinded" expenditures.

[Gardnr]

I agree.. if you want to track your money, you have to figure out a way to account for those "blinded" expenditures.

We put $300 a month cash in the drawer. The column is labeled Cash! It's our blow money and we're good with it.

[iris lilies]

I track only at the macro level. I record money going out each month. Last year we spent $61,000 and of that $12,000 was on health insurance premiums.

This year we are on track to spend $70,000 and that is with greatly reduced health insurance premiums thanks to Alan who subsidizes our health insurance costs. The bump up in spending is a trip to Europe.

[The Storyteller]

Hey OP, good for you! I retired from the city library system here 2.5 years ago.

Please tell me you arent going to be one of those people who retire on a Friday and come into the library the following Monday to volunteer for whatever. Those people always made me go "hunh?"


Thanks! No, not right away at any rate. But there are things about the place that drive me nuts that I might come over and fix after I retire, on an informal basis. First thing I want to do at the library, though, is come in here and just hang out as a patron all day long doing nothing at all but read. Just for a day or two.

Long term, I'll find some other volunteer possibility, hopefully. There are museums, parks, and homeless and rehab shelters all walking distance from my house that I will eventually look into.

And yes, I know what you mean. Once a librarian, always a librarian.

[The Storyteller]

Thank you all for all the excellent advice. Much to ponder here. I'm rereading YMOYL and some of the other titles recommended (have loved All Your Worth by Warren since it was first published and long before she was into politics). I'll go over your suggestions one by one and take in as much as I can.

Thanks again! It truly is much appreciated.

[frugalone]

I've been using Mint.com for about a year, and I like it a lot. My only complaint is that sometimes there is a lag between the transactions at my credit union and them showing up at Mint. I complained to customer service at Mint about this and they said they are going to look into it and see if it can be fixed.