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mackpal
New Member
Australia
40 Posts |
 Posted - May 03 2009 : 12:40:08 AM
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Hi,
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for keeping the time spent on the monthly tabulation to a minimum? I know the analysis is important, but does anyone have a quick and easy way of getting info from the tracking notebook to the tabulation (in my case, excel)? I'm studying this year, and any additional time in front of the laptop is a drag. Maybe I've just go too many categories (I haven't counted, but there are lots!).
mackpal |
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flywaysuzy
Senior Member
991 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2009 : 07:55:31 AM
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I take inventory quarterly. This keeps the graph smaller and is much less time consuming. That graph is for investments/cash. I guess what you are talking about is the monthly expenses and income? I just record what I spend/earn each month in a notebook and then when I'm in the mood (and it's raining out...), then I will add it all up and put it on the graph. I don't have debt to monitor going down each month and my expenses vary wildly depending on what projects are being paid for that month, so not much to see as a predictor of future expenses on that graph...
My categories are pretty broad also: household (can include everything from new windows to pillows), gifts etc. (includes charities, entertainment, magazines, newspapers), food (includes anything bought at a grocery store, except large bags of pet food).
Altogether, maybe 10-12 categories including farm expenses. How many do you have? |
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jrb3
Moderator
USA
2118 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2009 : 05:00:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by mackpal
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for keeping the time spent on the monthly tabulation to a minimum?
Make fewer purchases! 
Seriously, the monthly tabulations flow past pretty quickly for me. I have less than two dozen categories, each with a half-dozen or so transactions similar enough that I already consider them as a unit for all practical purposes. Enough categories to be meaningful, but not so many that they mostly go underused.
My current category set evolved. The merging and splitting pretty much finished after the first year. The occasional category will disappear or rename as the kids grow.
Joseph |
Joseph Beckenbach
From each *voluntarily* according to their ability, to each *unimposed-upon* according to their need.
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QuiltR
Advanced Member
USA
3752 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2009 : 5:00:57 PM
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Cars a)maintanance b)gas/insurance/tags
Food In
Food Out
Health Traditional
Health Alternative
Entertainment a)hobbies b) Vacation c) pocket cash
Clothing
Gifts
Charity
Toiletries/houshold
Misc
Home a)Maintainance b)Insurance/Taxes c) utilities
Payroll withholding: a)Taxes b)SS c)Retirement
Savings
Other
We toss all receipts in a designated drawer. Sometimes I wait till month-end and that takes an hour. Other times like today (with 2 receipts), I just do it and it takes 1minute. (I have an excel monthly grid I print out and record everything quickly).
I have the above categories in an excel sheet and below each RHW is calculated per formula. I also input formulas so I have ongoing totals at the bottom for YTD. It's always interesting to finish a year, compare to previous years and see where we are. For instance, we are still spending less on food that in 2004 which was our peak year so far this century....... |
Laugh, laugh and then laugh again :-) |
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mssewsalot
Advanced Member
1059 Posts |
Posted - May 05 2009 : 1:55:44 PM
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We track every penny and last month a family member was hit by a drunk driver. we had no problem traveling to visit and help, but the eating out expenses on the road, yikes. the food was not nearly as good either as far as taste and health are concerned.
Pagliaci, who do you volunteer to go to Africa through? a local entity or is it someone anyone can volunteer through? |
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pagliaci
Junior Member
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2009 : 6:54:38 PM
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| I have friends who run a small hospital in Nigeria. They put a group together to visit and I said "YES". I'm going again ina few weeks. Medical expirience is not required, though your a bit to late for this year. |
Taking the next step along the path of simplicity...
Jason |
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mackpal
New Member
Australia
40 Posts |
Posted - May 07 2009 : 1:29:22 PM
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I have 22 categories, each with subcategories! I don’t use all of them all the time. For example, food I break down into meat (I try to be aware of how much meat I’m eating and where the meat has been sourced), dairy (uses massive amounts of water from our rapidly declining aquifer), pantry, fruit and veg (can I grow more of my own), work lunches (I shouldn’t be buying any at all, but I still do!), eating out (not too bad), entertaining (must do more of this), treats (keep an eye on this one!). While the detail gives me a very clear picture of where my money is going, it’s also time consuming to total up each grocery docket every week, and then, along with all my other spending, enter it all. Maybe I need to cut back on being so detail driven.
Or, as Joseph said, stop spending so much! |
Edited by - mackpal on May 07 2009 1:30:16 PM |
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pagliaci
Junior Member
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - May 16 2009 : 03:17:10 AM
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I wanted to post an update for April, as I realize I never did. It was a very good month. My basic expenditures were quite low, although I bought my plane ticket to Africa (I Leave 2 weeks from today!). With the plane ticket monthly savings was 30% and without it was 60%. I did have some extra income in the form of call pay.
I have always taken all of my obvious occasional exepenses ( Car insurance, home owners insurance, association fee's and property taxes) and spread them out over the year. Interestingly, despite this there continue to be significant variations in month-month spending. It is obvious to me there are some expenses you just can't anticipate. I think that is why it is important to look at years worht of data rather than months as one approaches FI and long term planning!
The great news is I'm looking really good right now. I Should be able to pay off my 401K loan very soon (I maybe could now but am going to wait for next paycheck. Why stretch or hurry things) and make some real inroads into my student loans. I'll definetely have them payed off by the end of the year and probably before that! My last non-mortgage debt!!!!
I'm also going to have to make peace with chapter 9. I never really have. My savings has always been in a 401K and invested in stocks because I was always decades from retirement. Now that I am years away....I need to come to some new conclusions. I think I"ll start a seperate thread on this. It is fun figuring it out!
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Taking the next step along the path of simplicity...
Jason |
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pagliaci
Junior Member
USA
90 Posts |
Posted - Jun 12 2009 : 6:20:25 PM
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OK. May was a very good month. Saved 50% AND payed off my 401K loan. My only debt is my mortgage (House worth more than I owe) and my student loans. The loans will be gone in September. Expenses were higher due to Africa trip (Which went very well, thanks!), and some veterinary expenses for my dog. Mom also gave me some money to support my trip which was real real nice.
Anyway, onward and upward. |
Taking the next step along the path of simplicity...
Jason |
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BohoBelle
Junior Member
Australia
89 Posts |
Posted - Oct 21 2009 : 3:29:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by mackpal
Hi,
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for keeping the time spent on the monthly tabulation to a minimum?
Hi mackpal,
My partner and I have been tracking for almost a year now. We did 2-3 months on paper which was hit and miss. Then DH being a bit of a tech head, found a great
iPhone application called iXpenseIt to track out daily spending.
It has saved us so much time and we find we are much more diligent about tracking each and very cent spent.
We have two main categories; joint spending and personal spending. Then under this are eight general use categories which then break down into subcategories for more details. Benefits of the app to us include;
- very quick and easy to tally spending in the moment on your phone
- instant reports on all sorts of things
- visual tally of how we are going through the month
- only one minute to add our total personal and joint spending together for the FI Chart
Also, we always check off the entries in our phones against our printed off bank statement. Filling in direct debits or payments we forgot. This takes us about half an hour each.
We now need to start incorporating the three questions of fulfilment etc and analysing the spending in terms of life energy. We currently discuss the spending and our individual findings. But I would like this to become a little more formal, though I think we will continue it in a verbal form to save time. Any ideas?
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**Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing** |
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mackpal
New Member
Australia
40 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2009 : 6:35:01 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BohoBelle
Hi mackpal,
My partner and I have been tracking for almost a year now. We did 2-3 months on paper which was hit and miss. Then DH being a bit of a tech head, found a great
iPhone application called iXpenseIt to track out daily spending.
It has saved us so much time and we find we are much more diligent about tracking each and very cent spent.
We have two main categories; joint spending and personal spending. Then under this are eight general use categories which then break down into subcategories for more details. Benefits of the app to us include;
- very quick and easy to tally spending in the moment on your phone
- instant reports on all sorts of things
- visual tally of how we are going through the month
- only one minute to add our total personal and joint spending together for the FI Chart
Also, we always check off the entries in our phones against our printed off bank statement. Filling in direct debits or payments we forgot. This takes us about half an hour each.
We now need to start incorporating the three questions of fulfilment etc and analysing the spending in terms of life energy. We currently discuss the spending and our individual findings. But I would like this to become a little more formal, though I think we will continue it in a verbal form to save time. Any ideas?
That sounds like a great idea. My tracking is paper-based as I don't have a mobile, but I enter my monthly figures into excel. Where are you? I'm in Mt Gambier, SA.
mackpal |
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Hogan
Member
USA
261 Posts |
Posted - Oct 28 2009 : 2:04:32 PM
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Another tip I thought of from YMOYL has been very important to me in reducing my spending, and that's the notion of gazingus pins. Once I identified what mine were, I too went through the guilt and self-recrimination for having wasted SO MUCH MONEY on them over the years. And yes, it did take some getting used to to not buying them anymore. But once that wore off, life actually got a lot simpler and I was able to spend a lot less money and rack up much less debt.
The gazingus pin thing can rear its head when you least expect it. Even though I cottoned on to the concept a few years ago and stopped buying said "pins," I still hung onto the ones I had. When DH and I had a garage sale last month and I had to confront all that crap, however, it all came crashing in again about the wasted money and resources. But it was a valuable lesson and now I actually have more of a revulsion towards buying that stuff. The mind is a funny thing! |
Hogan
www.lanamcglasson.com |
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bke
Member
364 Posts |
Posted - Oct 29 2009 : 09:36:03 AM
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| This is a terrific thread. Thanks for all the reminders. jrb3-its nice the "hear" someone admit that the day to day details that lead to FI can be boring. I don't post more because I feel like I don't have anything interesting to share but that doesn't mean I'm not plugging along! |
The only real freedom exists in the minimizing of needs. -Scott Nearing |
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jrb3
Moderator
USA
2118 Posts |
Posted - Oct 31 2009 : 10:18:53 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by bke
jrb3-its nice the "hear" someone admit that the day to day details that lead to FI can be boring.
Hmm, not sure I'd call it "boring". Mundane and necessary, definitely. It's not boring, it just is.  Guess I reserve the emotion for the results in this case ....
There's only so many "big exciting" things one can do. Lots of little things, done consistently, do together become a big thing. Knock loose enough sand grains from the beach shoes, eventually you can fill a sandbox and play in it. 
Joseph |
Joseph Beckenbach
From each *voluntarily* according to their ability, to each *unimposed-upon* according to their need.
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bke
Member
364 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2009 : 05:29:05 AM
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jrb3- Sorry if I misunderstood the point you were making. The reminder that its not all big gains and that the little things do count even if they're less exciting had a positive affect on me.
Dh and I strive everyday to get to the point where we are debt free and financially independant. It's our biggest dream. Sometimes its slow-going but we're getting there. |
The only real freedom exists in the minimizing of needs. -Scott Nearing |
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YMOYL tips, tricks and pearls
