2018 Spending Summary and Analysis

[Rianne]

Tracking since 2015. Honestly every penny that goes out.
2015: 63,109.34
2016: 58,006.05
2017: 61,532.33
2018: 59,134.15
No mortgage or car payment.

 

[ABQ2015]

In my first full year of retirement (2018), I spent $60K not including federal and state taxes which will be about $18K for a total of $78K. My largest category was travel at $15K. Not including travel, expenses were similar to that of 2014, 2015, and 2016. I had planned to buy a new car upon retirement and saved for it separately - that cost is not included in this spending although I will have to budget for future car purchases from my retirement income.

This year I got off cheap because there were not many emergency home repairs and I deferred some other repairs as I was busy traveling. I know from previous years that home repairs can quickly add up. I did not list itemized expenditures but I'm spending too much on cable/internet, water, heat, and lawn care. I need to downsize to a smaller, newer home that is more energy efficient.

 

[pjigar]

We are 2% within target budget. We don't have detailed budget but only a "top line" budget. This is the first time we saw 10% "deflation" in spending! Next year planning for another 4% deflation. We have too much froth in our budget so trimming it a little bit every year.

 

[audreyh1]

Some of us track because we always have, and that historical data also helped us when we needed to figure out if we had enough to retirement on and model future expenses.

I still track the same as when I was working and saving and investing. I'm an engineer. I always like having the data. Quicken has had this automated for me for years and it's easy to generate a detailed report.

Just because you track doesn't mean you fret over why you spend a few hundred dollars more on groceries in a given year, but it does let you see trends so it's informing. What you do with the data is entirely up to you.

 

[Rianne]

Some of us track because we always have, and that historical data also helped us when we needed to figure out if we had enough to retirement on and model future expenses.

I still track the same as when I was working and saving and investing. I'm an engineer. I always like having the data. Quicken has had this automated for me for years and it's easy to generate a detailed report.

Just because you track doesn't mean you fret over why you spend a few hundred dollars more on groceries in a given year, but it does let you see trends so it's informing. What you do with the data is entirely up to you.

Bottom line, end of year is more important to us. I used to be obsessed, anyone can tell from my very first post here, with each and every expenditure. Now, I just scan monthly and see were we went over(under), trip out west for a month one year, Europe another year, new couches, home repair etc. Then, the next few months we cut back. IMHO, it all comes down to the end of the year.

2017, I had 3 ER visits and admitted for 4 days. That year @ 10K in HC because premiums were $536/month. Year end, 2017, $61,532. 33 - per my above post.

 

[Independent]

Some of us track because we always have, and that historical data also helped us when we needed to figure out if we had enough to retirement on and model future expenses.

I still track the same as when I was working and saving and investing. I'm an engineer. I always like having the data. Quicken has had this automated for me for years and it's easy to generate a detailed report.

Just because you track doesn't mean you fret over why you spend a few hundred dollars more on groceries in a given year, but it does let you see trends so it's informing. What you do with the data is entirely up to you.

+1

For us, tracking expenses often meant deciding that we're spending very modest amounts in certain areas, and we had the room to increase spending.

 

[W2R]

One of the video games I ordered in 2018 never did arrive, and Amazon had begun projecting 2+ months more of waiting for it instead of just a week or two. So this week I cancelled and re-ordered from a third party seller and it has already shipped. Consequently it became a 2019 expense, and my 2018 expenses went from $25,710.55 plus income tax, to $25,677.80 plus income tax.

I'll get this right eventually!

And I TOTALLY agree with Audrey's point. Knowledge is power! If we don't know what we spent, we are piloting our financial ship while blindfolded (so to speak).

 

[scrabbler1]

I m amazed at the way some of you can keep track of some expenses so precisely such as groceries. I doubt I could do that even if I tried. Sometimes, I pay cash (and sometimes get a receipt, sometimes I don't), sometimes I use a credit card. If I go to the corner market to get a half gallon of milk, I pay cash.


There is a blur between my cash and credit card expenses if I can't allocate the CC expense to one of my distinct categories such as medical or car or phone expenses. I also have to account for groceries I buy for my ladyfriend with a CC when she repays me her part in cash.


What I usually do is to simply add together the cash and remaining CC expenses and call it "remainder."

 

[W2R]

I m amazed at the way some of you can keep track of some expenses so precisely such as groceries. I doubt I could do that even if I tried. Sometimes, I pay cash (and sometimes get a receipt, sometimes I don't), sometimes I use a credit card. If I go to the corner market to get a half gallon of milk, I pay cash.

Really it doesn't have to be a big deal. In my case, I almost always pay for groceries by credit card. But when I buy something in cash, stores in New Orleans ALWAYS give me a receipt! Maybe this is a peculiarity of your area or something? I have no idea. Anyway I just tuck the receipt in my wallet with the rest of the change and go on. Then when I get home I take the 5-10 seconds required to record it in my spreadsheet and then throw out the receipt.

If the receipt is illegible (which sometimes happens when their ink runs out), then I look at how much money is in my wallet, compare it with the day before, and remind myself of the exact total that way. That probably happened once in the past five years or so.

There is a blur between my cash and credit card expenses if I can't allocate the CC expense to one of my distinct categories such as medical or car or phone expenses.

In my case, I have a nice category called "Miscellaneous" for that.

I also have to account for groceries I buy for my ladyfriend with a CC when she repays me her part in cash.

The way I choose to do it is to record buying such things as always on my spreadsheet, and then record his reimbursement to me as a negative purchase on my spreadsheet (and label it as to why). He records what he spends to the penny too, so he reimburses me to the penny and that is not an issue for me.

If he forgets to reimburse me then either I mention it to him and get the reimbursement, or else I say nothing and label it as a gift and put it in the "miscellaneous" category which is where my gift spending goes as a subcategory. As you can see from my totals in that category, this hardly ever happens.

(Frank and I never share money or bank accounts or investments or house or anything like that since that works best for us - - we are not married and our relationship is essentially emotional and commitment oriented, not financial).

We each have to figure out what method works best for us but this is what works for me. For me each purchase is on a different line on my spreadsheet; there is a column for date, a column for tentative category, and there is a column for "comments" in which I say what the purchase was for and if it is on my CC. Then at the end of the month I categorize everything and add up amounts in each category. All that takes maybe a half hour or so and I call it my monthly "Fun with Excel" since I like doing it.

 

[Dtail]

I m amazed at the way some of you can keep track of some expenses so precisely such as groceries. I doubt I could do that even if I tried. Sometimes, I pay cash (and sometimes get a receipt, sometimes I don't), sometimes I use a credit card. If I go to the corner market to get a half gallon of milk, I pay cash.


There is a blur between my cash and credit card expenses if I can't allocate the CC expense to one of my distinct categories such as medical or car or phone expenses. I also have to account for groceries I buy for my ladyfriend with a CC when she repays me her part in cash.


What I usually do is to simply add together the cash and remaining CC expenses and call it "remainder."

Since I track the expenses daily, I also track the cash and always try to get a receipt. My cash budget is $40 monthly for unexplained cash as some things do slip through.

 

[Sunset]

I m amazed at the way some of you can keep track of some expenses so precisely such as groceries. I doubt I could do that even if I tried. Sometimes, I pay cash (and sometimes get a receipt, sometimes I don't), sometimes I use a credit card. If I go to the corner market to get a half gallon of milk, I pay cash.
...

I always get a receipt, clerks hand it to automatically, and I've done this before tracking spending.
Why, because sometimes a person is accused of not paying, like after they drive away from the gas pump. No receipt, means no proof to show the cop he stopped the wrong car, or the gas attendant was wrong.

So with my phone app, I just enter the receipt total at the end of the day, usually it's paper receipts, some might be online email purchase.


It's very simple, I only need to track receipts.
I don't track cash, as I'll spend it on something and get a receipt.
I don't track credit cards as I have already done the receipts.

Why do I do it, because before I just guessed how much I spent and didn't know. It bugged me, so I started and I learned things about myself.

 

[slowsaver]

2018 Spending

DH and I are still working, so our health care is artificially low. Here's what we spent $$ on this year:

Spending	2017	2018	Increase	Notes
Total	$64,493.62	$64,420.91	-0.11%	-$72.71
CASH	$838.00	$173.00	-79.36%
Auto - Fuel	$710.00	$658.40	-7.27%
Auto - Maint	$645.59	$67.93	-89.48%
Groceries	$3,232.16	$2,981.74	-7.75%
Alcohol	$934.89	$692.38	-25.94%
Internet	$636.83	$717.95	12.74%
Cell Phone	$105.90	$107.80	1.79%
Utilities	$2,246.31	$2,413.50	7.44%
Condo (HOA, PropTax, Insur)	$4,659.59	$3,605.00	-22.63%
Gifts	$713.96	$392.36	-45.04%
Home & Garden	$7,481.92	$10,154.78	35.72%	New Furnace & Bed
Home Insur	$2,065.25	$1,160.75	-43.80%
Property Tax (primary home)	$8,133.36	$5,504.06	-32.33%	Tax Law Change
Auto Insurance	$588.50	$826.00	40.36%
Health, Dental, Gym Fees	$580.90	$890.45	53.29%	New glasses (3x)
Misc (Bank fees, stamps, other)	$290.53	$387.67	33.44%
Clothing	$946.45	$1,818.16	92.10%
Computer	$1,085.23	$42.58	-96.08%
Bike, Run, Sports	$25.99	$183.66	606.66%
Dance	$1,135.13	$1,259.26	10.94%
Dining	$11,509.44	$9,911.54	-13.88%
Education, Entertain., Guitar	$1,411.73	$1,892.11	34.03%
Personal Care	$449.84	$710.01	57.84%
Donations	$2,431.00	$784.00	-67.75%	Tax Law Change
Vacation Packages	$1,379.00	$5,811.22	321.41%	Bicycle Trip, Cruise
Lodging	$3,759.63	$4,581.54	21.86%
Air Travel	$2,797.16	$3,492.40	24.86%
Public Transport, Uber, Tolls	$584.54	$757.66	29.62%
DH Misc	$3,114.79	$2,443.00	-21.57%

I'm still amazed that even though we have large changes in spending in individual categories, the total remains surprisingly constant:

• 2013: $58k
• 2014: $59k
• 2015: $61k
• 2016: $65k
• 2017: $64k
• 2018: $64k

Planning to get a new roof next year, so maybe we'll spend more.

 

[SecondCor521]

And I TOTALLY agree with Audrey's point. Knowledge is power! If we don't know what we spent, we are piloting our financial ship while blindfolded (so to speak).

Some who don't track sometimes point out that they're spending little enough that they are safe, so why bother tracking? (I'm forgetting if someone made that point on this thread yet and too lazy to search to see.)

For some of us (including me at the moment), we need to track because we're spending too little and need to figure out how much more we need to - or can safely - [-]spend[/-] blow.

(So I agree with @W2R and @audreyh1.)

 

[socca]

Yikes! I was trying to make light and have some fun with the super trackers and the non trackers like myself.

I run my personal financial life like a business, including using small business accounting software to track personal income/expenses (QuickBooks) and reconciling key accounts every month, including cash. If I find a penny on the sidewalk, it needs to be recorded in QuickBooks or else the cash account won't reconcile at the beginning of the following month. I guess this puts me on the Felix end of the Felix (supertracker)/Oscar (nontracker) spectrum.

One advantage of detailed income/expense tracking is that it allows me to produce a high-quality budget based on actual numbers. However, unlike bookkeeping, budgeting is more of an art because it's sometimes not clear how much to allocate to reserves for aperiodic items (A/C replacement, roof replacement, car replacement, etc.) In my case, allocation to reserves is the largest item in my 2019 budget after taxes, reflecting my rather cautious nature.

I've only been doing detailed tracking for about 3 years. Before that, I aggressively saved for decades. I'm trying to loosen up a bit, and detailed tracking may help by convincing me that I have discretionary income to burn. We'll see - old habits are hard to break.

 

[sengsational]

I started tracking when the IBM PC came out. I've tracked ever since. I've got fewer expense categories than many posting here, and don't bother splitting out that many transactions to different categories (or not real precisely). But tossing in all transactions makes it easy to reconcile the CC and bank statements.



Usually only once a year do I look at actuals (I have no budgets). I find it kind of fun to look over multiple years, apply adjustment for big things, then try to understand what drove changes. Most times it's what I call "gee wiz"... nothing new, nothing actionable, but having the data and having done the reporting makes me feel like I've done the "due diligence" of a person in the consumer society.

 

[Jerry1]

I liken tracking to my short time using a Fitbit. It didn’t take long to figure out that just working and sitting at my desk, wouldn’t get me the steps I needed. Typical work day was about 3000 steps. Getting over 5000 required time on the treadmill. 10000 took a normal day plus golf. Once I learned that, I didn’t really need the Fitbit to know if I was anywhere near my goal in steps.

I never really budgeted while working. I did what I called forced savings. I had a mindset to LBYM, but if I wanted to spend, I did knowing that plenty was saved and more was coming in.

Now, my first year of retirement, I need to go back to the Fitbit analogy. I will be tracking expenses very closely until I get a real comfort on where I’m heading. I don’t think I’ll do it for more than a couple years and then I’ll go back to just the high level, total spend type of analysis. I haven’t done a full analysis this year yet, but the gross numbers look good. My target is $80K and we came in just under that and, we had about $15K of one time expenses. Of course there will always be one time expenses, so understanding and planning for those will be the challenge.

 

[Gunny]

We don't track spending to the penny. What we do is budget at the beginning of the month certain amounts per category i.e. groceries, Utes, mortgage. It's the envelope system. We also have a category marked misc for unexpected things like unplanned dentist trips or car repairs and a category marked travel. Travel is by far our biggest expense, so can be curtailed if need be. Our expenses are mostly covered by my pension and part time consulting gig. If I need to add a little here and there from cash reserves, I do. We average about a 65k/year budget. This method allows me to keep everyday costs down to free up "fun money" for the travel and toys.

 

[wmc1000]

For us it's not so much we have to track as it is so simple to do. Virtually everything goes on our CC even if it's only a buck.



When I retired 2 years ago I thought I might use cash periodically so I took out $500. As of today I still have $462 remaining. So $38 not recorded over 2 years is less than a decimal point percentage in the scheme of things.



All the CC expenses are shown in Fidelity full view and I rarely have to adjust categories so the "work" of tracking is minimal.

 

[couch]

I don't track anything, and I don't budget. But Mint does for me. Just started using it Dec 2017 so I only have one full year of data. Because it's mint doing the work, purchases that span multiple categories don't get divided properly. For example if we buy clothes and food at Walmart it all gets categorized as food(because we mostly buy food there(I think), same with Costco(I think))

According to Mint, last year we spent $9,538 on kids sports. And that is the obvious stuff, not gas/restaurants/hotels. For 8 and 10 year old boys, that is a pretty expensive gym membership/social club. But at least they are fit and social.

We spent $25,976 on food, but that includes $6,074 at Costco/Walmart that could have non-food things. This one warrants breaking down further into the sub categories because its our largest expense and seems concerning.

Fast food: $1,841
Restaurants: $5,824
Coffee Shops: $1,230
Groceries: $15,083
Alcohol: $1,547

How does this compare with other families?

 

[hausfrau]

According to Mint, last year we spent $9,538 on kids sports. And that is the obvious stuff, not gas/restaurants/hotels. For 8 and 10 year old boys, that is a pretty expensive gym membership/social club. But at least they are fit and social.

We spent $25,976 on food, but that includes $6,074 at Costco/Walmart that could have non-food things. This one warrants breaking down further into the sub categories because its our largest expense and seems concerning.

How does this compare with other families?

We are a family of three. We spent about 700/mo on food and HH. I think it's a lot, but it seems to be pretty consistent month to month. I cook mostly from scratch. Eating out ranges from 50-200, depending on if DH and I go out on our own.

Our daughter isn't interested in travel sports, but participates in a couple sports at school, plus swims and skis. Total spent is about $1200 a year, maybe a little more. The school sports are only about $120/yr. We also send her to sleep away camp in the summer. That's another $350. She wanted to take horse riding lessons, but I said no. That was hard becaue I like horses. I did tell her if she wants that, she has to drop everything else. We do go trail riding a few times a year though just for fun though. All of these expenses are voluntary of course.



I didn't track 2018 spending closely. We put X amount into our Roths, 401k and 529 plan and then spend the rest. This year I'm tracking expenses though. DH still likes working, but my gut tells me that might not be the case in a year or two. I would like to have all the numbers pinned down.

 

[couch]

We are a family of three. We spent about 700/mo on food and HH. I think it's a lot, but it seems to be pretty consistent month to month. I cook mostly from scratch. Eating out ranges from 50-200, depending on if DH and I go out on our own.

Thank you for the data point. I suspect I live in a HCOL area which is reflected in more expensive groceries. Would you say you live in the HCOL area?

Most of what I am talking about are discretionary spending and the kids sports even more so.... so I shouldn't have bothered mentioning it. We do it because we can and we want too; there can be no better reason.

For the food, your(adjusted for 3 people vs 4 people) $932/month compares to my $1256/month(with some part of that being incorrectly categorized).

For eating out, your(adjusted for 3 people vs 4 people) $264/month compares to my $587/month.

Its too high, but maybe it's not as bad as I thought. The two boys eat full sized adult meals now(and frankly I wish they would eat more), so we definitely spend more than we used too. This is especially true at restaurants where kids meals no longer cut it.

 

[ivinsfan]

Thank you for the data point. I suspect I live in a HCOL area which is reflected in more expensive groceries. Would you say you live in the HCOL area?

Most of what I am talking about are discretionary spending and the kids sports even more so.... so I shouldn't have bothered mentioning it. We do it because we can and we want too; there can be no better reason.

For the food, your(adjusted for 3 people vs 4 people) $932/month compares to my $1256/month(with some part of that being incorrectly categorized).

For eating out, your(adjusted for 3 people vs 4 people) $264/month compares to my $587/month.

Its too high, but maybe it's not as bad as I thought. The two boys eat full sized adult meals now(and frankly I wish they would eat more), so we definitely spend more than we used too. This is especially true at restaurants where kids meals no longer cut it.

You did ask how it compares to others? Why did you ask that? it's useful to know what others spend just as a gut check and to at least have a figure of what is a baseline for food spend. For example if it becomes necessary you could have a potential savings of 500 a month. This might be as simple as changing groceries stores and shopping specials.

And you also make the comment that your food spend is too high.

 

[couch]

You did ask how it compares to others? Why did you ask that? it's useful to know what others spend just as a gut check and to at least have a figure of what is a baseline for food spend. For example if it becomes necessary you could have a potential savings of 500 a month. This might be as simple as changing groceries stores and shopping specials.

And you also make the comment that your food spend is too high.

I am not sure what you are saying. I am happy for the extra data point and thanked hausfrau. I didn't mean to imply anything else. More data points would be good

 

[robnplunder]

Fast food: $1,841
Restaurants: $5,824
Coffee Shops: $1,230
Groceries: $15,083
Alcohol: $1,547

How does this compare with other families?

Like you, I put everything I buy at Costco/Walmart under groceries. My "restaurant" category includes stuff from fast food ones. Coffee shop stuff would go into "misc."

For a couple with kids, I can understand having a large "fast food" spending. We have gradually cut down on fast food for healthy living and probably spent only a few hundred dollars mostly during travelling by car.

Our alcohol budget would be closer to yours but some of that is for gifts (good wines).

We brew our coffee (DS) and green tee (me) - very few coffee shop trips for us. Our brew stuff are not cheap, especially the teas shipped from Japan. So, if I add the "stuff" up, it'd amount to about $700, give or take $100. Coffees are shipped from Costa Rica although lately, we are trying "grocery" brands.

 

[mrfeh]

We spent $25,976 on food, but that includes $6,074 at Costco/Walmart that could have non-food things. This one warrants breaking down further into the sub categories because its our largest expense and seems concerning.

Fast food: $1,841
Restaurants: $5,824
Coffee Shops: $1,230
Groceries: $15,083
Alcohol: $1,547

How does this compare with other families?

Family of 3 here. For 2018 (we don't separate fast food and coffee shops; it's all combined under "restaurants"):

Restaurants: $1486
Groceries: $6940
Alcohol: $320