Reading all the porn here got me excited
to try (again) to track expenses for the coming year. Just a quick gander through the check book makes me think we "spent" something upwards of 100K this year, but that's misleading. So many "expenses" are tax related in one way or another. These are non-recurring or discretionary. They really aren't related to daily living.
How, for instance, does one account for the non-recurring "expenses" such as realtor fees for the sale of a property? That didn't even come out of the check book. How, too, do folks account for their tax payments? Do you count 2010 taxes in 2010 or when they are actually paid (some in 2009 - carry overs, some in 2010, estimated payments, some in 2011 catch-up for e.g., extra Roth conversion in the final quarter of 2010)?
How do you account for taxes paid on e.g., Roth conversions, in general. Realistically, you could look at the taxes as "owed" because you own a TIRA. If you pay the taxes, aren't you really just exchanging one asset for another? A $100k TIRA is the same as a $70k Roth (100 minus 23k Fed taxes and 7k state taxes roughly)?
Basically, I've given up in the past. I think we'll try it again and see how 2011 works out. I've been depending upon looking at the difference in the "stash" and if it doesn't go down (or doesn't go down much) I've felt pretty good about our situation, knowing that many of our expenses are discretionary.
Hoping this time 2012, I'll be able to "show you mine" when you "show me yours".