No, thought about it but was just having too much fun here! So, I chose to stay in New Orleans this year. If I had taken a vacation, most of it such as airfare and hotel costs would have gone in Misc. or maybe a new "Vacation" category. But still, the food would have gone into Restaurants, and gas into Gasoline, vacation clothing into Clothing, and so on.
Seems realistic except- is the vacation for one as that seems like a very low travel/vacation budget.
I have a budget however I never figured out what I've spent. This thread prompted me add up my annual projected expenses for 2014 based on my monthly budget. Health insurance will be taken out of my pension check. Do you guys save receipts or log everything spent on a daily basis, what's a good way to track expenses? I'm thinking as long as I stay within budget I'm doing ok. Thanks
I have a budget however I never figured out what I've spent. This thread prompted me add up my annual projected expenses for 2014 based on my monthly budget. Health insurance will be taken out of my pension check. Do you guys save receipts or log everything spent on a daily basis, what's a good way to track expenses?
I have a budget however I never figured out what I've spent. This thread prompted me add up my annual projected expenses for 2014 based on my monthly budget. Health insurance will be taken out of my pension check. Do you guys save receipts or log everything spent on a daily basis, what's a good way to track expenses? I'm thinking as long as I stay within budget I'm doing ok. Thanks
I want to know exactly where every cent of my money is going! Although it may seem a little OCD, for some reason this is my idea of fun.
I log everything I spend in cash on a daily basis, and "balance" my wallet in the evenings so that I know where every penny of my cash from the ATM goes to. I used to just put down "ATM", but now I record everything very specifically, to the penny.
I record absolutely everything, including income tax payments
I set up an Excel spreadsheet using one of the budget templates and customized it for my needs. Within each category there are subcategories, e.g within Housing there is property tax, utilities, maintenance, etc. The sub totals for each category are helpful. On the left side of the spreadsheet I added a column for the amount I budget annually for each expense. I have a column for each month. On the right side of the spreadsheet I put a column for cumulative spending for each category (YTD) and another column showing the current variance from expected spending. At the bottom I separate out taxes, investments, debt servicing and personal expenses. I enter data monthly and all calculations are automatic. The data inputs come from purchase receipts, which I collect in a Ziplok bag for the current month, and from credit card and banking records, which I print at the end of the month. I shred all the paper after doing the calculations, unless I need to keep a receipt for tax or warranty purposes. For 2014, I will simply make a copy in a new worksheet and delete the numbers. I will adjust the budget for each category based on experience.
I don't have a budget but I do track our income (pensions plus withdrawals from savings), and I do track how much we spend each month. Some categories I do break out so I can see what we spend, such as rent, utilities, taxes and healthcare costs. As long as we are spending well below our means I don't have the desire to track more closely than that. Been there, done that, but I can see why some folks need to track expenses closely and why some folks enjoy tracking their expenses closely.
I'm much more interested in keeping track of my net worth. As long as it is in good shape the spending is not that big of a deal.
I started tracking 5 years before I retired and have just kept doing it. I'm much more interested in keeping track of my net worth. As long as it is in good shape the spending is not that big of a deal.
Just a wild guess (see my sig line), but I suspect if you subtract taxes and savings from your earnings figure you'll have good idea of what you spent.We haven't really tracked expenses yet, but may in the future. I know how much we earned for the year, and how much we have left...pretty much zero! So that kind of narrows it down, I guess.
I applaud those who can live comfortably spending $20 -$30K a year. I don't know how they do it, but it's totally amazing. In many cases, it's hard to tell if this is done out of necessity (low earnings) or just extreme frugalness. I would hate to start having to hang used paper towels out to dry and buy week old bread and dented cans (as on one of the really cheapskate websites). If you have to, then there is no choice, but I wouldn't do it just to save for the future. Another area many omit is taxes. We do live in the East in a high cost area. Last year was my first full year of retirement (meaning no salary at all) and our total tax burden, to include federal and state income, real estate and personal property (not including sales tax) is close to $38K. To that sum we add other must spend areas such as mortgage, health care (Medicare for 2 plus FEHB), gas, electricity, etc. We have no car payments and are nearing the end of our 15 year mortgage. W2R and Cassie have a great lists to plug numbers into. I'm just afraid to do it . But I do track all spending. And then ignore it . And our first year of both of us being retired was a blow out travel year - trips to AU, NZ, several of the South Sea islands and Europe, as well as cross country US travel. And 2014 looks to be about the same. We figure we have about 5 to 7 years of unhindered (both physically and economically) travel, before things catch up with us. Our motto is "Having fun while spending the kid's inheritance. " And, if the market continues (unlikely) as it has been, we will have negative SWRs - as in, our total invested (not counting home) went up about 12% from last Dec 31, even counting all withdrawals. How do you determine SWRs when you have a lot more than you started out with ? I love reading these posts - happens at least once a year, about this time. Keep them coming. And our wishes for everyone on ER to have a wonderful New Year.
I applaud those who can live comfortably spending $20 -$30K a year. I don't know how they do it, but it's totally amazing. In many cases, it's hard to tell if this is done out of necessity (low earnings) or just extreme frugalness. I would hate to start having to hang used paper towels out to dry and buy week old bread and dented cans (as on one of the really cheapskate websites). If you have to, then there is no choice, but I wouldn't do it just to save for the future.