Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
OP - sounds like you are no longer saving the 25% ?
I basically saved a bunch and spent the rest.
After retirement, I still didn't know how much I spent, which seemed "bad" as others here on the forum can tell you exactly what they spend on groceries/gas per year.
So, I tried paper, and I tried, some computer based spending tracking, but all failed as I would neglect to input the data as the computer/paper was not handy. I tried taking all the info from my bank account, but that missed some stuff too.
Finally I got a spending app on my smart phone and have for the past 1.5 years been tracking my spending very accurately. The biggest reason is my phone is with me all the time when I leave the house ! , it only takes about 15 seconds, after paying for a restaurant meal, to pull out the phone and put in the meal cost, other times I stick the receipt in my wallet and enter it all a few hours later when I look at my phone.
I do transfer all the totals per category for each month to a spreadsheet when I get in the mood, so maybe twice a year. This is just in case I lose the phone, I'll have the record totals.
It has been pretty enlightening, to see what the large expenses are each year/month, and how cheap I am
I basically saved a bunch and spent the rest.
After retirement, I still didn't know how much I spent, which seemed "bad" as others here on the forum can tell you exactly what they spend on groceries/gas per year.
So, I tried paper, and I tried, some computer based spending tracking, but all failed as I would neglect to input the data as the computer/paper was not handy. I tried taking all the info from my bank account, but that missed some stuff too.
Finally I got a spending app on my smart phone and have for the past 1.5 years been tracking my spending very accurately. The biggest reason is my phone is with me all the time when I leave the house ! , it only takes about 15 seconds, after paying for a restaurant meal, to pull out the phone and put in the meal cost, other times I stick the receipt in my wallet and enter it all a few hours later when I look at my phone.
I do transfer all the totals per category for each month to a spreadsheet when I get in the mood, so maybe twice a year. This is just in case I lose the phone, I'll have the record totals.
It has been pretty enlightening, to see what the large expenses are each year/month, and how cheap I am
