RE: why track at this level of detail?...
Nobody is claiming that your method is defective only that it is not for them. (YMMV in action.) I am glad that it works for you and wish that it did for me.
I hope my questions are not coming across as me claiming anyone else's methods are 'defective'. I'm trying to figure out how people actually use this data to drive decisions, and if it would help
me. I'm open to the idea, if there is some "there" there.
However, my experience with determining how much to spend by the amount in savings/checking or pocket was disastrous. ...
Like everything, whatever lets you sleep peacefully at night is the correct course to take.
Yes, whatever works for you, YMMV, etc. But I am trying to learn if this would work for
me. That's why I'm looking for examples that drive decisions so that I can evaluate if those would do anything for
me. For the most part, I seem to just be getting generalities ( paraphrase:
'I know how much I'm spending on what in real time', 'watch the pennies, dollars will take care of themselves'), or specifics (
'bought two shirts'), that are not giving me insight as to how this would positively change
my behaviors.
This is a bit off topic but stay with me.
A real time fuel gage in your car can assist you in saving gasoline by changes in the way you drive or even the kind of car you drive. Smart metering of your electricity...
Those are good examples because they provide transparency where there was little before. And I'm thinking of installing some kind of simple/cheap smart electric meter for my own use, for that exact reason.
However, I'm having trouble seeing how telling DW that we spent $X on 'groceries' so far this month, and that is 23.1% ahead of where we were last month at this time is going to change her behavior at Costco. First, there could be all sorts of perfectly reasonable variation "Dear, remember we had a dinner party last week, you had the beer club over, and I made dessert for everyone for SIL birthday, they had a sale on cleaning supplies so I stocked up - should I pass up a sale on stuff we use just to level-load our budget, etc, etc". Geez, how do you account for this minutia?
I find it much more valuable to simply think about our food purchases - is this product a good value, or is this cheaper (or more expensive) product actually a better value?
The other example people give - gasoline purchases. This is even easier. I never just get in the car and drive for the heck of it. Our cars get reasonably good mileage, and I do track mpg just about every tankful. We combine trips, plan our trips, ride-share when we can. What do I learn from knowing I spent $XXX.XX on gasoline any given month? Again, if my driving habits vary, there is a good reason for it - what am I going to change? "no dear, we are not going to your Cousin's house warming party 2 hours away - we didn't use that much gasoline last month, so NO. Pictures will have to do."
Contribution limits have to monitored/maintained over the year to maximize deferred tax savings.
Excellent example. I run a simple spreadsheet for this. EZ. Cheap (free as in OpenOffice.org).
I still don't get it, and remember, this thread started over complications in using these programs.
-ERD50