Writing down every penny spent

[tonilea]

We didn't write down everything we were spending, but went to cash only for food, gas, clothing, etc. It was amazing what you rethink purchasing when you only take what you actually plan to spend with you.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Would you please post more categories? I really would like to succeed.

Okay...I'm probably going to give you WAY more information than you asked for, but this will cover it all!

You can find budget books in the stores and things but I customize mine for my own personal spending categories using spreadsheets on Excel.

I do 3 pages per month. I could input the information into Excel but I prefer to print the sheets and handwrite.

I have an overview page. On this page I list the income, the categories, and the total in/out for the month. I have four columns for each category: projected, actual, difference (between my estimate and the reality), and the % of the total income for that month that each category is. I do NOT do all the columns each month, but every once in a while I look at the % of income to get an idea ...i.e. my rent is usually around 40% of my take-home pay.
(The empty squares are for stickers for the categories I stay below budget in...stupid but it's a little incentive that actually helps )

I have a page for listing expenses. Each category has 5 columns: date, location (where I spent the money), format (cash/debit/cc...this helps me cross check statements at the end of the month, also if I'm returning something and I know what cc it's on I can do receipt lookup at some stores), amount spent, and a balance (I add up so at the end of the month I'm not spending 2 hours adding numbers). The totals for each category go on the overview page at the end of the month.

I have a page for income where I estimate hourly wages (like I mentioned earlier...hours worked x pay per hour x .75 (to account for deductions). I also have an "other" area where I put money I find or was given. I list all the pay that DH and I make on this page, then the totals go on the overview page at the end of the month.

Categories: (Bold are the ones I use, Italics are some other ideas)
Rent
ConEd (utilities)
TMobile (my cell phone)
Verizon (my DH cell phone)
CableVision (cable, internet, land phone)
Compassion (we sponsor kids)
World Vision (we sponsor kids)
Food - I used to break down into "eating out" (and that included the soda/snack machines/Starbucks/etc) and "supermarket" but I've combined the two so they come out of one fund at this point. I broke it down earlier to see where the money is going, now that I know, one category is easier for me.
Transportation - We do not have a car. My unlimited bus pass is paid for through paycheck deductions, but sometimes we rent a car, take a cab, or my DH buys a Metrocard (bus pass). This goes in that category. When I had a car, I had subcategories of gas, maintenance, insurance, and car payments.
Clothes - self explanatory
Gifts - holidays, birthday, etc
Health - this is copays, prescriptions, over the counter meds, etc - if you have a flex spending plan with work, breaking it down like this can help you at the end of the year (I think?)
Laundry - I don't have a washer/dryer, so we haul our laundry to the laundry mat and use quarters. I suppose laundry soap could be in this category too but I leave that for Misc
Work - I'm a teacher and find myself buying stuff for work a lot
School - I just finished my masters but this was a HUGE budget category for awhile. I included tuition and text books in this category.
Entertainment - movies, plays, shows, concerts, etc
Travel - anything associated with a vacation goes here
Books
Hobbies
Electronics
Miscellaneous - I've named it this because I don't know what else to name it. It just means household supplies like laundry soap, cleaning supplies, etc.

At first I found it easier to have more categories in order to track where money was going (leaking). Now, I find it easier to have more broad categories because it's less work. If you shop at Walmart or Target or those "all in one" stores, you can separate the stuff in your cart into your categories and do separate transactions when you check out.

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

Thank you. You have given me some good ideas. Now to see what I can come up with.

 

[dvcgirl]

We've been tracking every penny we spend for years and years. Even though we're completely debt-free and save 60% of our net income we still continue to do this.

We'll sit down this weekend and set our budget for the year. First we set out our savings goals, then we lay out our monthly budget (taxes, insurance, utilities, pet spending and so on). The amount that is left if split up for monthly discretionary income, vacations and any larger projects we'd like to do around the house.

Once the budget is set the money moves where it needs to go. The only two categories I need to track are monthly grocery spending and monthly discretionary spending.

 

[wall*e2008]

I too am starting today writing everything down i buy, even down to the 65 cent sodas at work!!!!

I would do this on a weekly basis. Put $X in your wallet just for work. At the end of the week see how much you spent and record that weekly total.

I do not do it to every penny. I round everything up. Easier to keep track of. I put all receipts on my desk (no matter how I paid for the item) and once a week I write them down. This makes it less of a chore.

This works for us. We still spend on extras, but it is easy to see when you need to cut back on the extras. We have a misc place for those extras.

I use the net income for my budget.

 

[Pembo]

Good luck to you. We also did this for awhile but it was too depressing when I realized there was not much we could cut out.

 

[rentayenta]

everyone and good luck! I am hoping by being accountable we will waste less.

Okay...I'm probably going to give you WAY more information than you asked for, but this will cover it all!

You can find budget books in the stores and things but I customize mine for my own personal spending categories using spreadsheets on Excel.

I do 3 pages per month. I could input the information into Excel but I prefer to print the sheets and handwrite.

I have an overview page. On this page I list the income, the categories, and the total in/out for the month. I have four columns for each category: projected, actual, difference (between my estimate and the reality), and the % of the total income for that month that each category is. I do NOT do all the columns each month, but every once in a while I look at the % of income to get an idea ...i.e. my rent is usually around 40% of my take-home pay.
(The empty squares are for stickers for the categories I stay below budget in...stupid but it's a little incentive that actually helps )

I have a page for listing expenses. Each category has 5 columns: date, location (where I spent the money), format (cash/debit/cc...this helps me cross check statements at the end of the month, also if I'm returning something and I know what cc it's on I can do receipt lookup at some stores), amount spent, and a balance (I add up so at the end of the month I'm not spending 2 hours adding numbers). The totals for each category go on the overview page at the end of the month.

I have a page for income where I estimate hourly wages (like I mentioned earlier...hours worked x pay per hour x .75 (to account for deductions). I also have an "other" area where I put money I find or was given. I list all the pay that DH and I make on this page, then the totals go on the overview page at the end of the month.

Categories: (Bold are the ones I use, Italics are some other ideas)
Rent
ConEd (utilities)
TMobile (my cell phone)
Verizon (my DH cell phone)
CableVision (cable, internet, land phone)
Compassion (we sponsor kids)
World Vision (we sponsor kids)
Food - I used to break down into "eating out" (and that included the soda/snack machines/Starbucks/etc) and "supermarket" but I've combined the two so they come out of one fund at this point. I broke it down earlier to see where the money is going, now that I know, one category is easier for me.
Transportation - We do not have a car. My unlimited bus pass is paid for through paycheck deductions, but sometimes we rent a car, take a cab, or my DH buys a Metrocard (bus pass). This goes in that category. When I had a car, I had subcategories of gas, maintenance, insurance, and car payments.
Clothes - self explanatory
Gifts - holidays, birthday, etc
Health - this is copays, prescriptions, over the counter meds, etc - if you have a flex spending plan with work, breaking it down like this can help you at the end of the year (I think?)
Laundry - I don't have a washer/dryer, so we haul our laundry to the laundry mat and use quarters. I suppose laundry soap could be in this category too but I leave that for Misc
Work - I'm a teacher and find myself buying stuff for work a lot
School - I just finished my masters but this was a HUGE budget category for awhile. I included tuition and text books in this category.
Entertainment - movies, plays, shows, concerts, etc
Travel - anything associated with a vacation goes here
Books
Hobbies
Electronics
Miscellaneous - I've named it this because I don't know what else to name it. It just means household supplies like laundry soap, cleaning supplies, etc.

At first I found it easier to have more categories in order to track where money was going (leaking). Now, I find it easier to have more broad categories because it's less work. If you shop at Walmart or Target or those "all in one" stores, you can separate the stuff in your cart into your categories and do separate transactions when you check out.

WOW! This is awesome! for sharing this. I always forget a category or 2 so seeing yours really helps! I am going to break down my Walmart and Sam's trips into categories because I don't buy all groceries.

I think I will skip the paycheck breakdown as well. It seems so cumbersome and really, what gets taken out cannot be decreased.

 

[rentayenta]

Dh and I were just talking about doing this yesterday. With the start of the new year we thought this would be the best time to start. I am dreading it though, cuz I am the one who spends alot of extra money on the little things like a few things at the dollar store or running into Walmart for a few things and I come out with a cart full of stuff. But like the pp said, its making me accountable to myself and maybe that will help me.
So I got our notebook ready and waiting right on the breakfast bar. And we are going to start keeping track of our money and where it goes tomorrow.

Looking forward to having the support of you guys here on the DIS.

Fran

Hi Fran. I am looking forward to the support as well.

A few weeks ago I started down writing what I spent and what I ate. Sometimes I do dread it because I waste a lot of money and calories. It is "interesting" to look at.

Money and calories, the two big evils for me!

We didn't write down everything we were spending, but went to cash only for food, gas, clothing, etc. It was amazing what you rethink purchasing when you only take what you actually plan to spend with you.

Cash only is a great plan too.

We've been tracking every penny we spend for years and years. Even though we're completely debt-free and save 60% of our net income we still continue to do this.

We'll sit down this weekend and set our budget for the year. First we set out our savings goals, then we lay out our monthly budget (taxes, insurance, utilities, pet spending and so on). The amount that is left if split up for monthly discretionary income, vacations and any larger projects we'd like to do around the house.

Once the budget is set the money moves where it needs to go. The only two categories I need to track are monthly grocery spending and monthly discretionary spending.

All I can say is wow and I look forward to debt free one day!!!! That must be an amazing feeling?!

 

[happygirl]

I'm going to talk to the hubby about trying it

 

[rentayenta]

I'm going to talk to the hubby about trying it

Good luck!


I just got off the phone with hubby and asked him what he spent yesterday and I am not liking the naggy/mom feeling it gave me to ask so I am not going to. He works 48* shifts at the FD so I guess I'll try to just go by what I see taken out of the account via the debit card. I am doing this for the greater good and not to make things tense. He rarely has cash so it shouldn't be that hard.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I also want to cut down the eating out even if its only fast food. I want to limit it to 2x a month instead of 2x per week. I think it will just take some advanced planning. DD has dancing 2 nights a week so by the time I pick her up (530pm one night and 630pm another night) its so easy to go to a drive thru than come home and cook. But if I can pre-cook some stuff and have it frozen or cook 2 meals one night and have left overs the next night, I think I will be less likely to eat out and more likely to come home and eat what we have, therefore spending less money.

 

[626ish]

DH does this as a hobby. (He's incredibly strange sometimes.) We do keep good track of our money, though, which is a good thing for newlyweds ^_^ Most of our "throwaway" money we've found is going into food. Not so much groceries, but snacks and going out to eat. Best of luck on your endeavor!

 

[tonilea]

I also want to cut down the eating out even if its only fast food. I want to limit it to 2x a month instead of 2x per week. I think it will just take some advanced planning. DD has dancing 2 nights a week so by the time I pick her up (530pm one night and 630pm another night) its so easy to go to a drive thru than come home and cook. But if I can pre-cook some stuff and have it frozen or cook 2 meals one night and have left overs the next night, I think I will be less likely to eat out and more likely to come home and eat what we have, therefore spending less money.

The crock pot is your friend!

 

[koolaidmoms]

I have done this the past two years and it really is interesting. This year I even got more fancy (I do mine in excel and collect all receipts for one year) and broke it down by catagories - groceries, restaurants, gas, business, school, medical, entertainment, pets, sales tax and other. I then did a formula to figure out the amount of the total expense that was spent in each catagory by year and by month. I could clearly see when we were eating out too much and start to cut back or look and remember when the dog got sick as to why our pet category was so much.

I am a little crazy with this but I love it.

 

[timzagain]

Count me in!

I really need to get a handle on my spending if I am to reach my financial goals for 2009.

Today was the first day I've spent money for the year. I bought some gifts for use later in the year (planned) but spent $10 on a great pants on sale. It's nice that I got the pants at such a good price, except that I had promised to spend NO money on clothes for at least the first quarter! It's only $10 but every little bit will add up

 

[rentayenta]

I also want to cut down the eating out even if its only fast food. I want to limit it to 2x a month instead of 2x per week. I think it will just take some advanced planning. DD has dancing 2 nights a week so by the time I pick her up (530pm one night and 630pm another night) its so easy to go to a drive thru than come home and cook. But if I can pre-cook some stuff and have it frozen or cook 2 meals one night and have left overs the next night, I think I will be less likely to eat out and more likely to come home and eat what we have, therefore spending less money.

Kids' activity nights are when I find it the hardest to cook and not drive thru. And like tonilea says: the crockpot is your friend! It saves me almost every week.

DH does this as a hobby. (He's incredibly strange sometimes.) We do keep good track of our money, though, which is a good thing for newlyweds ^_^ Most of our "throwaway" money we've found is going into food. Not so much groceries, but snacks and going out to eat. Best of luck on your endeavor!

A hobby? Love it! DH did agree to try and write it down without me asking. It's a start.

I have done this the past two years and it really is interesting. This year I even got more fancy (I do mine in excel and collect all receipts for one year) and broke it down by catagories - groceries, restaurants, gas, business, school, medical, entertainment, pets, sales tax and other. I then did a formula to figure out the amount of the total expense that was spent in each catagory by year and by month. I could clearly see when we were eating out too much and start to cut back or look and remember when the dog got sick as to why our pet category was so much.

I am a little crazy with this but I love it.

The crazier the better! I have been working on my categories off and on this morning.

Count me in!

I really need to get a handle on my spending if I am to reach my financial goals for 2009.

Today was the first day I've spent money for the year. I bought some gifts for use later in the year (planned) but spent $10 on a great pants on sale. It's nice that I got the pants at such a good price, except that I had promised to SPEND no money on clothes for at least the first quarter! It's only $10 but every little bit will add up

and good luck!



DH left to get tires for the car. I feel a situational depression coming on.

 

[SnowWhite607]

The crock pot is your friend!

And I just got a new one for Christmas!

 

[ZPT1022]

now if we eat out a mcdonald's or wendys only one of use gets a meal and the other gets just the sandwich. we share the fries and drink. it doesn't save much but $5 saved is still $5.

we do this too, but more for saving our stomachs than a few dollars. I can't eat too much fast food type food without it affecting me in a bad way and DH has this compulsion to not waste food. We call him our garbage disposal. He may not even be hungry anymore but he will finish the food off mine and the kids' plates. And then later he feels sick

Dh and I were just talking about doing this yesterday. With the start of the new year we thought this would be the best time to start. I am dreading it though, cuz I am the one who spends alot of extra money on the little things like a few things at the dollar store or running into Walmart for a few things and I come out with a cart full of stuff. But like the pp said, its making me accountable to myself and maybe that will help me.
So I got our notebook ready and waiting right on the breakfast bar. And we are going to start keeping track of our money and where it goes tomorrow.

Looking forward to having the support of you guys here on the DIS.

Fran

That's me too. I'm worried to see what I actually spend on stuff. Grocery store trips are not a big deal, you need food and we don't do a lot of processed or convenience foods so I doubt I could get that much lower, plus the "specialty" stuff we buy is due to allergies, so no two ways about that. It's the trips to Target and such that I'm worried about

I know I buy the kids too many clothes. We've been without a washing machine since the beginning of September (dealing with GE service for the repair since it's under warranty) and it's been easier to just buy more clothes and have more available than to make it to the laundromat more often, so the problem has gotten even worse. New washer is scheduled to come on Tuesday and I am horrified about what our closets will look like once I get through laundry mountain.

I think that what I really need to do is to make myself have to turn receipts over to DH. Right now he has little to no clue about finances- as long as he has what he needs and there is food in the house and the bills are paid, he's happy. On the one hand I realize that I'm lucky that he's not a freak like some of my friends' husbands are but maybe it's time for him to be more involved. And not that he would care what I spend but I know that I would hate to have to show him that I "wasted" money on junk, or eating lunch out with the kids, etc... and to see how all those little $5 here, $15 there things add up at the end of the month-

We want/need to be able to move out of our townhouse and into a single family house in the near future and I want a huge savings cushion before we do. The only way to get there is to get control of where our money goes. Honestly, one of our biggest money wasters is going out to eat, especially the last few weeks. It would be helpful for both our financial and our health related goals for the year to get that under control.

 

[shoes99]

We both took early retirement 10 years ago. I have two excel spreadsheets that I update weekly. I too keep track of cash spent, so I know how much to pull out of retirement accounts after social security....
Once you get used to it, its not bad at all. I run most of my purchases thru credit cards, and pay them off right away.
DH laughs at me, but he is not the one figuring out how far we can stretch our investments coupled with social security. We were 53 and 54 when we stopped working, we will be 63 and 64 in 2009 and doing OK so far.
The only thing I need to do now is to copy my old excel into floppys or disks..

 

[rentayenta]

And I just got a new one for Christmas!

I need one too. I got mine 15 years ago.

we do this too, but more for saving our stomachs than a few dollars. I can't eat too much fast food type food without it affecting me in a bad way and DH has this compulsion to not waste food. We call him our garbage disposal. He may not even be hungry anymore but he will finish the food off mine and the kids' plates. And then later he feels sick

That's me too. Even when we went to Disney with free dining, we had a ton of credits leftover because I hated to order just knowing it would get thrown or away or end up in my stomach.

That's me too. I'm worried to see what I actually spend on stuff. Grocery store trips are not a big deal, you need food and we don't do a lot of processed or convenience foods so I doubt I could get that much lower, plus the "specialty" stuff we buy is due to allergies, so no two ways about that. It's the trips to Target and such that I'm worried about

Those trips to Target are killer. I did find a neat little trick though. I was grocery shopping yesterday, did the big stuff at Sam's and only needed a handful of items from Walmart. To insure I wouldn't buy more, I grabbed a hand basket instead of a cart and it worked. I spent only $23.71 at Walmart.

I know I buy the kids too many clothes. We've been without a washing machine since the beginning of September (dealing with GE service for the repair since it's under warranty) and it's been easier to just buy more clothes and have more available than to make it to the laundromat more often, so the problem has gotten even worse. New washer is scheduled to come on Tuesday and I am horrified about what our closets will look like once I get through laundry mountain.

I think that what I really need to do is to make myself have to turn receipts over to DH. Right now he has little to no clue about finances- as long as he has what he needs and there is food in the house and the bills are paid, he's happy. On the one hand I realize that I'm lucky that he's not a freak like some of my friends' husbands are but maybe it's time for him to be more involved. And not that he would care what I spend but I know that I would hate to have to show him that I "wasted" money on junk, or eating lunch out with the kids, etc... and to see how all those little $5 here, $15 there things add up at the end of the month-

We want/need to be able to move out of our townhouse and into a single family house in the near future and I want a huge savings cushion before we do. The only way to get there is to get control of where our money goes. Honestly, one of our biggest money wasters is going out to eat, especially the last few weeks. It would be helpful for both our financial and our health related goals for the year to get that under control.

I love the idea of buying new clothes vs cleaning them but I would be dead broke.

Good luck getting into a new home!

We both took early retirement 10 years ago. I have two excel spreadsheets that I update weekly. I too keep track of cash spent, so I know how much to pull out of retirement accounts after social security....
Once you get used to it, its not bad at all. I run most of my purchases thru credit cards, and pay them off right away.
DH laughs at me, but he is not the one figuring out how far we can stretch our investments coupled with social security. We were 53 and 54 when we stopped working, we will be 63 and 64 in 2009 and doing OK so far.
The only thing I need to do now is to copy my old excel into floppys or disks..

You are already on the right track! WTG!!! I love reading about the successes and am getting loads of ideas.