Reviewing Your Yearly Spending

Jules

Jules

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Do you review your spending to see if you’re spending too much or being too thrifty. Or if your priorities were wrong.

After looking at all monthly receipts, I see somethings that make me wonder why I bought them as they weren’t really needed, just a spur of the moment, emotional decision. The last thing I need is more stuff that has to be dealt with later. DH doesn’t buy anything that he doesn’t absolutely need and even then sometimes I have to drag him to shop.

So now that it’s a new year, it’s time to remind myself whether I really need it or not.
 

Jules said:
Do you review your spending to see if you’re spending too much or being too thrifty. Or if your priorities were wrong.

After looking at all monthly receipts, I see somethings that make me wonder why I bought them as they weren’t really needed, just a spur of the moment, emotional decision. The last thing I need is more stuff that has to be dealt with later. DH doesn’t buy anything that he doesn’t absolutely need and even then sometimes I have to drag him to shop.

So now that it’s a new year, it’s time to remind myself whether I really need it or not.
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I review my spending monthly. When I am writing out my budget sheet for the next month (I write it out the last week of the month), if there is something I wanted to purchase I try to include it in my budget. Otherwise I put some money aside to save for it. I do purchase things I don't necessarily need.....but want. Need or want is what I ask myself. I have been paying down debt and don't want to get sidetracked. Debt from before I moved here.....almost 6 years now.
 
I'm happily debt-free, so instead I just track monthly balances for cash accounts and chart them with a total-sum summary trendline. The charts show me if I risk spending beyond my income after taking into account intentional big "spends" like reroofing the house, buying a new car, etc.

It's a little "after the fact" but I'm generally frugal anyway, so I don't get myself in trouble very rapidly.
 
I never review my spending other than checking my monthly credit card statement to make sure there's no fraudulent charges. Living alone makes finances simple, I know how much money I have and I know what I'm spending, never any surprises, never over spend.
 
I do a monthly budget. It is updated every time something is purchased. I can go back to any previous month for comparison purposes. Helps me know at any given time what my expenditures are. I suppose it’s my only job in retirement. The most important job.
 
I review my finances monthly. I live on my monthly income and only use savings for vacations, home improvements, etc. I started consulting part time and made 10k this year. Some went to savings, some for big expenses like vet bills and some to pay for a week vacation I am taking in February.
 
The only bills we have are the pad rent,and utilities. Food is much more expensive than before the pandemic. There are months that hit the checking account pretty hard too. Then at the end of the month anything left over goes into a savings account.
 
I have a journal where I keep track of items I pay with cash{almost everything} every month,been doing it for yrs
As an example I write down how many times a month I go to Target or Walgreens,the totals at end of the month
It certainly helps me to see where my money goes
 
Today the radio station is discussing retail and over consumption and all the wasted items. Even if I can donate them, so much will eventually end up in the landfill. I hate being part of the problem.

When my mother and her new husband bought a home, she kept track of every major expense in a school notebook. It was interesting to look at the costs back then.
 
I don't track day to day expenses. I have a simple spreadsheet on my laptop and update it at the end of every month. It keeps track of what is in our bank accounts etc. and the change since the previous month. As long as the trend is level or upwards, we're living within our means.
 
I also do a monthly budget and try to save whatever is left over. I have a local savings account, that helps when I need costly home repairs but I also have a savings account in a credit union about 5 hours from where I live. I never tap into it because it is so far away.

A good friend of mine from India , who I met in 1970 , called me this AM, who knows of some of the trials and tribulations I have had ,and I always saved ,as they say, "for a rainy day" and some of those rainy days were $$$ Tsunamis!
 
I admit to be a compulsive saver. If something is less expensive at another store, I plan to buy it there. I’ve been like this since I was a kid.

At this point, I can buy what I want, I just want to make sure I need it. Last Christmas I bought a beautiful, artisan created scarf and it wasn’t a thrifty purchase. I never wear it. Those are the type of purchases I don’t need to make.
 
My money gets deposited into a savings account where it remains unless I transfer it to a checking account. So by default my money is saved.

Every beginning of the month I transfer over a budget amount I figured out years ago. It covers the bills and the food. Anything unexpected I then check to see if I can cover it from the budget. If not, I transfer the exact amount into checking to cover it.

So my budget review occurs every month and on a per purchase basis. No annual review is required.
 
I don't do any formal kind of spending review. I look at my checking account a couple of times a month to make sure everything's ok there.

A couple of years ago, right before I retired, I did a review of our year's spending. I found out we were spending a whole lot of money eating out. Then the pandemic hit, and that took care of that problem.

It helped a lot that hubby and I retired debt free. That is the one piece of advice I would give to anyone nearing retirement.
 
I guess you could say I micromanage my finances and doing so actually relaxes me. I use two spreadsheets each set up for a year. One is self created the other is a wonderful Vertex Family Budget Planner (FBP) that I can download and open in Google Doc spreadsheets. I use my spreadsheet to project what my expenses and checking balances will likely be for three months at a time. I enter what I've actually spent on the FBP. That spreadsheet self tallies and shows monthly and annual figures for income and expenditures. It comes in very handy, especially when I'm figuring out how much more I owe for the year on my Zakat (obligatory charity), since annual income is shown and totals for certain deductible categories are readily available..

I also created another spreadsheet that lists spending categories and savings over the years. I find it interesting to be able to compare those annual figures side by side. The last time I did it was 2021, but the figures I need for the last two years are easy to find on my FBPs. If anything, I'm fine with my priorities (continuing to save & invest and staying out of debt). Even with helping my granddaughter with her college tuition, I'm probably not spending enough. But I don't need much anymore 'cause I've already got too much stuff. I just need to spend quality time with family and be by the ocean several times a year. Owning an oceanfront timeshare makes that very affordable.
 

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