Does Anyone Total Up Their Annual Spending At Years End?

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
I got an email on my Discover card showing how much I spent in 2019 and so I thought "how much do I spend every year and on what?" Does anyone here actually document their spending? I total up my net worth at the end of every year and as long it is close to or more than the previous year I am OK with it. I'm too lazy to track every dollar.
 

Yes, I get an end of year total with my Amex, plus I do all my household bills that I don’t use my credit card for. I have been doing this for 56 years, from the day my husband gave me “permission “ to handle all the bills. Remember that was 56 years ago! Lolol.....I also remember applying for a credit card but having to get his permission or the store wouldn’t give me one, thank goodness times have changed!!
 
I check our expenses regularly....at least weekly....bank accounts, credit cards, etc. I'm not all that concerned about our spending, but with all the hacking that goes on anymore, I want to make sure that someone hasn't broken into one of our accounts.
 
Same as fmdog, I don’t account for every penny but once a year I check what’s coming in and roughly what’s going out and also check bank accounts etc.regularly for errors
 
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I don't do it at the end of the year, but at the end of each month I look to see if I'm generally on track. My monthly spending doesn't change a whole lot, and if it does, I look to see why -- for instance, new tires, dental bill, property taxes, etc. It's pretty easy to stay on top of that way. I certainly don't to it to the penny; that's too much trouble and doesn't really serve a purpose for me.
 
I jot down my expenses in a notebook as they happen, total them monthly and annually.

If I notice that my spending is getting a little ahead of my budget I tap the brakes a little to bring things back into line while the difference is still manageable.
 
i get an automatic total ytd since i have all accounts linked ... i am only interested in the total and that we stay within the goal posts each year .. as long as we don't go over i don't really care where it went since i am okay with what the money was for and unless we had reason to cut i would do it the same way next year ..

i can further look under the hood at where it went but i have no reason to do that .
 
I receive statements every month for both charge cards. Year end too for one that tells me my cash back. I record debits and credits in a bank book. I know exactly where every cent is coming from and where it is going. I need to. How will I know how to budget any trips I take, pay my house and auto taxes, etc. etc.
 
we find when you maintain a good discretionary to non discretionary spending ratio, budgeting is not important to us as much as just knowing where we stand between the goal posts for spending we set each year . since about 40% of our budget is within our control , if a year ever gets close to maxing out we just spend less on any of the flexible discretionary spending we do.

as i always say it is not about just living below ones means . you can have the bulk of your bills non discretionary , be a few bucks under what you take in but be in terrible shape because if push comes to shove you have no where to cut back when the budget was constructed with a high level of non discretionary spending .. savings rate and discretionary spending ratios are key to having a good budget , not just living below what you take in .
 
Hey back!

We do, on a monthly basis. We are relying more and more on the system associated with our home bank account which offers a breakdown of our spending that we can edit and personalize to make the monitoring process easier and more effective.

Do you do any online day-trading or investing (others)? I’m learning that now.
 
No. I get annual statements from my credit card company and I file it away.
What I do look at is how much money we have stashed away each year. In theory, we are "underspending" which is a concept I completely reject. Saving for a rainy day is always a good idea.
We are going to have some major expenses when we relocate.
 
I do using the Vertex Family Budget Planner. It is a self tallying spread sheet that tallies monthly and annual income, savings and expenses. It's pre-filled with just about every category you'd need, that tally separately as well. It's really helpful at tax time. I have many of the figures I need right at my fingertips. The spreadsheet can be opened from the website in Microsoft Excel or Google sheets. I open mine in Google and have been using it for about 10 years. https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/family-budget-planner.html

I also have a separate self generated sheet on which I project my expenditures for a couple of months at a time. I update it whenever changes are necessary. Another available method would be the credit card websites that give the same kind of information you got from Discover.
 
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Weekly, monthly, yearly. Our grocery, car, entertainment expenses stay virtually the same, utility costs rise each year, water and electrical in particular. The public service commission is a joke, more like the Duke Energy/Blue Granite Water commission.

Natural gas remains a bargain here.
 
fmdog44 said:
.... so I thought "how much do I spend every year and on what?" Does anyone here actually document their spending? .....
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In order to plan for retirement, we tracked our spending, to the penny, for about three years. We created spreadsheets and manually went through checkbook and cc's to categorize the spending. Then, we did our best to allocate anticipated expenses and include them on the spreadsheets. For instance, tried to determine an amount for future car repairs, or loan on a new car, or house expenses such as a new roof (which so many people fail to anticipate, according to so many studies). We were then very confortable determining how well we could retire and spend money on traveling and other activities.
There is no way to answer the oft-asked question: "Can I retire", without going through the exercise of tracking current expenses and making educated guesstimates of future outlays. Of course, future income is determined as best as possible too.
 
retiredtraveler said:
In order to plan for retirement, we tracked our spending, to the penny, for about three years. We created spreadsheets and manually went through checkbook and cc's to categorize the spending. Then, we did our best to allocate anticipated expenses and include them on the spreadsheets. For instance, tried to determine an amount for future car repairs, or loan on a new car, or house expenses such as a new roof (which so many people fail to anticipate, according to so many studies). We were then very confortable determining how well we could retire and spend money on traveling and other activities.
There is no way to answer the oft-asked question: "Can I retire", without going through the exercise of tracking current expenses and making educated guesstimates of future outlays. Of course, future income is determined as best as possible too.
Click to expand...
for many what current spending is when a paycheck or two may be coming in at peak earning years is going to be very different when those pay checks stop ..

when in retirement we all pretty much see what we have to work with and back in to a lifestyle that fits .

for some like my dad and some friends of ours it meant leaving where they lived for more affordable areas ..

what once was may have no bearing on what is , once the check s stop
 
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