How Did You Do On Your Expense Budget in 2010?

[W2R]

I don't recall W2R making recent posts about eating out. Could it be that simple?

I have still been eating out at least once daily*, although maybe at less expensive places. One lunch was on a Christmas gift card. I am mystified so this will be fun to figure out.


* (Today - - tomato basil chicken on angelhair pasta at Copeland's, with diet coke; $13 covered lunch and tip so that is one of my more expensive lunches)

 

[W2R]

I'll bet those cold New Orleans winter nights must simply fly by in the W2R household

They sure do! I have been enjoying my Wii and staying away from the mall to avoid the Christmas shoppers.

Good luck with your accounting and all the very best for 2011

Thank you, and the same to you!

 

[braumeister]

A little more than 1% under budget.
Very happy about that. The budget is subject to change from year to year based on whether we need to replace a car or something like that, but this was a "normal" year.

 

[JBmadera]

not so good. in fact just today we reviewed the annual recap, which seems to magnify all of those "small" issues we had during numerous months. I just ran the '11 budget and shared it with DW, the only thing we can do is reduce our planned (and actual, of course) spending in '11 to compensate for over-spending in '10. needless to say it wasn't a very pleasant conversation.

 

[fisherman]

Not that I am a little *nal about finances but we came in $315.88 per month under the budget. $59.58 per month of that was lower than budgeted repair expenses. Not bad since we bought 10 new tires this year. Health care was $5800 below budget as I plan to fully meet the deductible each year and we were fortunate enough again to not get near the deductible. The health care budget is a separate amount as it has a much much high inflation rate also.

 

[NW-Bound]

...I am mystified so this will be fun to figure out...

I used to use MS Money just to track investments. After I switched to Quicken, started to use more of the software functions to look at spending also.

I have yet no reasons to change any of our spending habits based on this new knowledge (hey, isn't LBYM about never having to say that you are sorry to have spent on something), but it is nice to, with just one click, find out how much we spend on groceries, on gasoline, etc...

I remember that you pay cash and do not use credit cards, so the software would not work for you. But for me, it works well so far even though T-Al cursed at it.

 

[FIREd]

We were way over budget in the first half of the year but we have been on budget in the second half. I retired at the end of July and we have been living on our somewhat reduced retirement budget ever since.

 

[73ss454]

Spent way over budget. 71K + 17K for a car. I did work PT selling boats till Sept and that brought in 80K so all in all not to bad. DW is talking new kitchen, I hope the market treats us good again next year.

 

[Lakedog]

Spent less than half of my pension so added to investments - guess I need to change my spending habits since I can't take it with me. I made an effort to spend more with several weeks of travel (western U.S. and FL) so plan to travel even more next year and maybe buy a new boat.

 

[mickeyd]

I do not budget, but I do loosely track my expenses. They were about the same as last year.

 

[Rustic23]

Budget $75,000
Expected to spend $50,000
Spent $60,000

My budget has several categories I really do not expect to spend annually. However, my spreadsheet forecast 25 years, and I know there will be a year when I will spend some of those amounts. So, the numbers are really just about what I expected.

 

[W2R]

I used to use MS Money just to track investments. After I switched to Quicken, started to use more of the software functions to look at spending also.

I have yet no reasons to change any of our spending habits based on this new knowledge (hey, isn't LBYM about never having to say that you are sorry to have spent on something), but it is nice to, with just one click, find out how much we spend on groceries, on gasoline, etc...

I remember that you pay cash and do not use credit cards, so the software would not work for you. But for me, it works well so far even though T-Al cursed at it.

You are right; I am so old-fashioned! I prefer to do my tracking myself. I have thought about buying Quicken but it just "isn't me", I guess. Happy New Year, by the way!

 

[Meadbh]

We really blew our 2010 budget- over by 20%. Must do better in 2011. Major overages in health care, gifts, travel, and auto. How did you guys do?

Well, that's a lot to admit for a former big six Canadian banking exec!
I guess we know what your New Years' resolution is going to be!

I don't have a strict budget, but I have been extremely frugal this year and socked away a ton of money.
Except for the condo I bought, of course.

 

[Meadbh]

I came in $13,000 under budget despite buying a car,traveling and doing some remodeling . I'll just roll that over into next year .

 

[Meadbh]

We were supposed to spend $53,000 and we spent $36,000. I'll try harder next year.

 

[aaronc879]

I bugeted $12,000 and spent $11,974

I spent extra over the last week on stuff I needed anyway since I had a little cushion. I'll need since I budgeted the same as 2010 but am planning a vacation that will likely cost around $1500. I also have a condo assessment I wasn't expecting for another $1000. It'll be difficult to make up for those but i'll give it a shot. It's possible i'll up the budget to $15,000 but i'm hoping not as that'll add years onto my working life if I keep it that high

 

[calmloki]

Budgie? Spend less than we have?

 

[East Texas]

We were OK on our budgeted monthly expenses. We had around $40,000 in unplanned expenses for this year; however, we have a very robust emergency fund. We bought some acreage next to our ranch that suddenly became available. Not that we needed more land - we bought it to keep anyone else from getting it and possibly putting in a bunch of house trailers, meth lab, whatever. We simply don't want anyone living that close to us. It was worth the expense. We also had to repair the dam on our pond.

Things we've done this year that's saved us money are using a wood stove to heat the house (we seem to have an endless supply of fallen trees) instead of the heat pump and we started canning this year. We have a good supply of "fresh" veggies in the storeroom and, except for the start-up expense of buying canning jars and a pressure canner, we've come out ahead on food expenses.

 

[veremchuka]

i have never had a budget. i buy what i must and seldom buy anything else. since i retired my wr has been 1.3% pa. i decided to pay off the mortgage in oct 2009 so in december 2009 i used a lot of money. thru june 2010 i finished off the mortgage again spending a lot of money. both 2009 and 2010 my wr would have been 1.3% if i didn't count the mortgage pay off which pushed it to about 10%. 2012 will be a very interesting year, 1st ever w/o a mortgage, wr may be 0%. i always have lbmn so i'm not very budget oriented.

 

[SecondCor521]

Haven't finalized the 2010 numbers yet, but I am roughly 7% over what I thought I would spend, for two key reasons. First, my income tax amounts withheld are higher than what I expected due to higher than expected income (two raises and a bonus). Second, I decided to take the kids to San Diego for a week and so that was a more expensive vacation than I had planned. Still saved a hunk of money this year, so no problem with the overage on either count.

2Cor521

 

[youbet]

2010 was my fourth full year of retirement........ And my fourth year of being on budget, exactly, to the penny.

 

[Walt34]

We spent more than we usually do, mostly from the "extra" income from my job. Largish expenses were a new computer and the attendant software upgrades, a nice big corner desk, color laser printer and photo printer, two digital cameras, four new tires for the truck, a set of tires for the motorcycle, and a few trips for a wedding, a funeral, and a family reunion. We also spent more than we normally would on gifts for DW's nieces, which she loves to do and it is appreciated.

Without the job we would not have a motorcycle and would have spent a lot less on the computer and desk, forgone the laser printer, have one, less expensive, digital camera, and spent less on gifts and some other discretionary spending.

But savings are also up by $31k from this time last year so we're clearly spending less than our income.

 

[rescueme]

We were supposed to spend $53,000 and we spent $36,000. I'll try harder next year.

Just wondering; your forecast of expenses was off a bit over a third of actual expenses.

Something does not compute ...

 

[TromboneAl]

Well, our "budget" wasn't a forecast of expenses, it was the total we were allowed to spend based on the 4% SWR strategy. So, rather than showing that I'm bad at forecasting, it shows that I'm bad at spending.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to convince myself that we really can spend a lot more money, then I'm going to find some stuff to spend it on.

 

[Danmar]

Well, that's a lot to admit for a former big six Canadian banking exec!
I guess we know what your New Years' resolution is going to be!

I don't have a strict budget, but I have been extremely frugal this year and socked away a ton of money.
Except for the condo I bought, of course.

Yes. I'm a little embarassed. In 2009 also over by about 7%. Up until then we tracked expenses but did't try to keep within a budget. With the crash of 2008/09 we thought a little discipline was in order. We bought a lot of art in 2010 and DW surprised me with a wonderful trip to celebrate my 60th birthday. I splurged on her birthday too. DW had to get her ACL repaired because of a ski accident. Rather than wait 2 years in Canada got it done in Cleveland immediately. Cost about $10k. Hope to do better in 2011 but have increased the budget from the 2010 one by about 10% so really splitting the difference. Total expenses still under long term pension plus dividends.