Like others, I have started on my "Annual AA, Budget Dance". Love the way you phrased that! That's just what it is. Anyway, here are some of the things I am doing:
(1) I "closed the books" on my 2011 spending, and recorded all my 2011 dividends. I added up my spending and earnings. (If my bank clears a charge between now and midnight, that could mess up everything!
Wish me luck on that one.)
(2) I plan to move the entire year's withdrawal from Vanguard MM to my bank tomorrow (minus the left over money from 2011 that is already in my bank). I figured out what I will have each month and set up some ultra-simple Excel routines to tell me how I am doing compared with where I should be, each month.
(3) Then I will rebalance, and I have already figured out how much to buy and sell of each. After my one withdrawal for the year, my AA will be 43:57 instead of 45:55; not shockingly far off, but I want to start the year nicely balanced anyway so I will. (I love being my own boss.
)
(4) I am also making some major changes to my system for recording expenditures, to be more detailed and specific, and otherwise tweaked/synched as desired.
This is my favorite part of New Year's Eve/Day! Getting everything totalled up and squared away. This is the one day of the year when I give into any slight OCD tendencies and go nuts, number crunching to my heart's content.