# Do You Track Your Spending Activities?



## fmdog44 (Dec 22, 2019)

I really don't but at the end of this year I am going to sit down and print out all my spending and money matters for this year.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 22, 2019)

Yes, I keep a notebook and jot down all expenses as they happen and tally them up each month.

Annually I jot down the total spending and compare it to my total income including the estimated sustainable draw from investments.

I calculate the estimated draw three different ways, a straight 4%, inflation-adjusted 4% since I stopped working in 2005, and inflation-adjusted three-year rolling average.  I've been doing these calculations annually since 2005 and so far they appear to be sustainable with enough growth to cover inflation.   Who knows what the future holds but so far it has been encouraging.

At this point, I don't make a significant annual draw from investments but I like to see what would be available in the event that I move to an all-inclusive retirement complex of some type.


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## Catlady (Dec 22, 2019)

I USED to, and was very meticulous and to the penny, but then stopped for many years.  I'm planning to start doing it again in 2020.  I just take a ruled sheet and split it into 13 columns on the horizontal (12 months and the total balance).  On the vertical I list the income sources and all the utilities and other expenses and just write down the monthly total for each.  That will help me better calculate where I could be saving and how much to withdraw for the RMD.  So far I've been withdrawing what Vanguard tells me is the minimum withdrawal.


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## Wren (Dec 22, 2019)

I don’t track mine down to the last penny but know roughly what I have coming in,  going out and what’s left over


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## Pecos (Dec 22, 2019)

I don't, but I do track our saving activities and as long as we are poking around 15% of our after tax income  into CD's, I don't worry about our spending. We are required to take our MRD, and figuring out what to do with it is our problem. We do know that at some future point we are likely to have much greater expenses that we have now in our 70's so we do not waste money.


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## mathjak107 (Dec 22, 2019)

I only track the total as we go along ..we have no budget issues so I don’t really need to know where it is going ...whatever we are doing we are going to keep doing  ...I can get a ballpark automatically on fidelity full view and pretty much see what went where . But I have no reason to , other than just make sure we are on track


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## Lc jones (Dec 22, 2019)

We have a monthly budget that we stick to and have different categories for expenditures such as food, gas, car maintenance, and entertainment and we each get our own allowance. When it’s gone it’s gone. We pay our bills from a separate account.


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## ronaldj (Dec 22, 2019)

I do keep close track of everything, in out left over needs wants ......


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## Lethe200 (Dec 22, 2019)

No formal tracking. Had to do just basic tracking (e.g., keeping an eye on the checking account) when we were working/saving. Once retired I continued doing that. We pay bills on-line so I'm in the account once or twice a week anyway.

Our income has increased in retirement but the majority of it is spouse's pension. Our CFP firm handles our investments and distributions on a tax-efficient basis. We've been very pleased both with their investment results and their handling of our requested distributions/RMDs. Our tax adviser agrees they do an excellent job for us.

Basically we are free to spend all of our income. No kids, only a small second mortgage that is interest-only, retiree health policies from spouse's employer and separate LTCi policies. Had a meeting recently with our CFPs and they did suggest setting up a donor fund since we give on average 10% annually to charitable orgs.

In doing this we can "pre-load" our giving which will allow us to itemize deductions for 2020, to take advantage of the new tax laws. On our 2019 return we could only use the standard deduction because of the new $10K cap, so the 2018 charity donations couldn't be used to offset income.


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

Yes, when I have overspent  I am trying to do better. I keep a track in my head, always have. When I check my account I am not too far off. My over spending is from grocery.. I need to attend Grocery Anonymous. Hi my name is Lady bj and I spend way too much on grocery. There is a story behind that... I need to discuss it in a session with my counselor. The first step is admitting it.


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

Lethe200 said:


> No formal tracking. Had to do just basic tracking (e.g., keeping an eye on the checking account) when we were working/saving. Once retired I continued doing that. We pay bills on-line so I'm in the account once or twice a week anyway.
> 
> Our income has increased in retirement but the majority of it is spouse's pension. Our CFP firm handles our investments and distributions on a tax-efficient basis. We've been very pleased both with their investment results and their handling of our requested distributions/RMDs. Our tax adviser agrees they do an excellent job for us.
> 
> ...


You guys sound like you planned very well!!!!


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## Catlady (Dec 22, 2019)

Ladybj said:


> Yes, when I have overspent  I am trying to do better. I keep a track in my head, always have. When I check my account I am not too far off. *My over spending is from grocery.*. I need to attend Grocery Anonymous. Hi my name is Lady bj and I spend way too much on grocery. There is a story behind that... I need to discuss it in a session with my counselor. The first step is admitting it.



Same here.  It's only me and I spend about $250 a month on groceries.  I've read about some bloggers and posters bragging that they spend that on a family of FOUR.  I wanted to ask if they eat a lot of ramen.  My excuse is that trying recipes and cooking has become my new-found retirement hobby and that does cost more than basic cooking.  Oh well, the hell with it, I never eat out or go to movies (can't hear) or go on vacation (no money), so I am not apologizing for eating good and nutritious meals.  There!!!!


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

I mostly take care of paying house expenses.. Hubby puts a certain amount in my account and I take care paying bills and grocery shopping.  He takes care of making sure we have paper products, bottled water and misc things we may need around the house and he pay his personal expenses, cell phone, car insur, etc.   We both have our own checking/saving account.  It definitely works for us.  We tried having an account together....did not work for us.. no, no, no, no.


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

Catlady said:


> Same here.  It's only me and I spend about $250 a month on groceries.  I've read about some bloggers and posters bragging that they spend that on a family of FOUR.  I wanted to ask if they eat a lot of ramen.  My excuse is that trying recipes and cooking has become my new-found retirement hobby and that does cost more than basic cooking.  Oh well, the hell with it, I never eat out or go to movies (can't hear) or go on vacation (no money), so I am not apologizing for eating good and nutritious meals.  There!!!!


I spend close to $1,000 a month on grocery and its just me and my hubby.   I eat pretty healthy for the most part.  I admit I need grocery anonymous.  However, if I lived alone I would not spend no where near that amount.  I may sign up with Home Chef again..that use to save me on my grocery bill.  I cannot see a family of four spending $250 a month for grocery..must have triple coupons.


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## Catlady (Dec 22, 2019)

@Ladybj  My daughter suggested that those people probably were talking about ''food items'', whereas I include things like laundry soap, toilet paper, etc (non -edibles).  Maybe she's right.


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## Lethe200 (Dec 22, 2019)

Ladybj said:


> You guys sound like you planned very well!!!!



We tried to plan well, plus we were lucky at some key points in our lives. VERY lucky!


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## peppermint (Dec 22, 2019)

I pay the bills, and buy the groceries....We both have a pension...It's both ours....together....It's been like that for 54 years...
If hubby needs or wants something, he can get anything he wants and vice versa....He loves Amazon!!!!!


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

Lethe200 said:


> We tried to plan well, plus we were lucky at some key points in our lives. VERY lucky!


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## Lvstotrvl (Dec 22, 2019)

I started a notebook a year after we were married I know what comes in n what goes out, at the end of the month I split whatever is left in the checkbook 1/2 stays in the checkbook n 1/2 goes into a savings account, it has worked well for us. We invested a lot started an IRA n purchased a lot of CD’s with that savings over the years.I still continue to save but now I put my savings in a money market n at the end of the year I buy my family’s Christmas presents, I am certainly blessed!


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## Ladybj (Dec 22, 2019)

Catlady said:


> @Ladybj  My daughter suggested that those people probably were talking about ''food items'', whereas I include things like laundry soap, toilet paper, etc (non -edibles).  Maybe she's right.


Maybe...  My hubby takes care of laundry soap, toilet paper, bottled water and I still spend that amount on edible food.  If they can make it work, that's great.  I need their secret.


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## Floridatennisplayer (Dec 23, 2019)

On another site, many folks log every single expenditure daily onto a spreadsheet and spend numerous hours on it.  Then they compare daily, weekly, and monthly expenditures and analysis as to why any changes.

Oh my, life is too short and I don’t have that kind of time or patience. I have fun things to do and it’s not rocket science.

I know what our basic fixed expenses are: Property taxes on both homes, homeowners insurance on both, condo fees, club fees, averaged utility costs, cable, cell phones, car insurance, groceries (very easy to average out) eating out, Christmas and birthday gifting, and gasoline.  These do not fluctuate very much. 

I think everyone should do an in-depth one time total expense analysis to know where you are.  After that you can easily figure out where your money is going and what you need to do.


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## IrisSenior (Dec 23, 2019)

I do know what is being spent and what is being paid. Is that tracking? I do all the financial business and we discuss bigger purchases. We do have a financial advisor who takes care of the money that is invested; RRSP's, TFSA (tax free savings account, other investments, etc.


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## treeguy64 (Dec 23, 2019)

I do budgets for fun, trying out different expense levels for different categories, and seeing their effect on overall financial health. I've done this since I was a kid. I also have my locked in budget that I use to try and forecast my future. It works quite well. 

Someone, in here, spends $1000/mo. on food for two? Yow! Janet and I eat very, very well on, around, $450/mo., and as a gourmet, vegan chef, I assure you we eat very high quality foods. I guess meat prices must be sky high these days to allow any couple to blow a grand a month on grub! Either that, or these folks have BMI's that are off the charts!


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## Buckeye (Dec 23, 2019)

I have no need to track my spending - the Bank lets me know when I run out of money towards the end of the month....


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## CrackerJack (Dec 23, 2019)

I keep a track of my outgoings and incomings and keep a tally of misc. spends in a cash book which is handy to look back on for any queries. My late Hubby was a whiz at finances and kept things in order and now I do it and surprised myself how practical Ive become over the past five years.

One thing that is a problem is all the paperwork accumulated over decades and it is a mammoth task of sifting through it all and deciding what to shred. I tackled this very slowly but still have so much to do and it's a painful process as it reminds me of my Hubby and I have to abandon it..until my mojo creeps in again.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 23, 2019)

mathjak107 said:


> I only track the total as we go along ..we have no budget issues so I don’t really need to know where it is going ...whatever we are doing we are going to keep doing  ...I can get a ballpark automatically on fidelity full view and pretty much see what went where . But I have no reason to , other than just make sure we are on track


Ditto.....


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## Pappy (Dec 23, 2019)

I can pretty well tell what we spend as 99% goes on our Credit card, which pays back 11/2% monthly. About the only thing that doesn’t go on the card is our car lease payment and electric bill which stay about the same month to month. Living on a fixed income monthly, one has to be careful not to go wild.


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## Red Cinders (Dec 23, 2019)

I don't track our spending by item, but I am always aware of what we are spending.  Like Pappy, we use our credit cards for just about everything (the cash back is too good to pass up.)  I check the accounts online often and keep a little notebook on my desk with running balances of the two credit cards we use.  If I want to see a breakdown of spending, I look at the financial breakdown provided by both credit cards online.  

Since our basic expenses are low and we don't buy on a whim, I don't worry about overspending. I've always shopped sales, compared prices, and negotiated for the best prices.  I admit to being frugal in most things. We aren't big spenders, but we don't hesitate to buy those things most important to us.

I feel it's important to monitor spending in case something goes a little screwy, but I don't keep records of every dollar spent.  It's not like a one-time increase of $10 monthly for electric is going to make me cut back on the air conditioning, but an increase of $50 will make me question if something is going on like a problem with the meter.


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## Catlady (Dec 23, 2019)

Red Cinders said:


> If I want to see a breakdown of spending, I look at the financial breakdown provided by both credit cards online.



I just LOVE those spending analyzers.  At the end of the year I print them out.


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## Knight (Dec 23, 2019)

No tracking.


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## fmdog44 (Dec 23, 2019)

One note on food spending: Food spending does not mean you _eat _X number of dollars per month. Examples are seasonings, cooking oils, salad dressings, etc. You buy them today but they last for weeks and months.


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## RadishRose (Dec 23, 2019)

fmdog44 said:


> seasonings, cooking oils, salad dressings, etc. You buy them today but they last for weeks and months.



Also, necessary paper goods, some cleaning supplies, etc. Just try not to have to re-stock all at once!


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## mathjak107 (Dec 24, 2019)

Pappy said:


> I can pretty well tell what we spend as 99% goes on our Credit card, which pays back 11/2% monthly. About the only thing that doesn’t go on the card is our car lease payment and electric bill which stay about the same month to month. Living on a fixed income monthly, one has to be careful not to go wild.


you got to love that term " living on a fixed income ". it's  like  most workers live on a fixed income too  if they don't get raises . at least ss and many pensions get cost of living raises .

some like ourselves have a bigger retirement income from investments then we did working ..so this term living on a fixed income really is silly. ss is no more a "fixed income " then working can be .

the term fixed income  just means you get the income on a schedule . it has nothing to do with the amount or what it buys . the term has been mis-used to conjur up visions of an old women counting pennies in her purse to buy bread trying to make the most of her ss check . but the term really has nothing to do with an amount or what it buys or even wealth status ..

"*Fixed income* investments generally pay a return on a *fixed* schedule, though the amount of the payments can vary. Individual bonds may be the best known type of *fixed income* security, but the category also includes bond funds, ETFs, CDs, and money market funds.


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## Pappy (Dec 24, 2019)

mathjak107 said:


> you got to love that term " living on a fixed income ". it's  like  most workers live on a fixed income too  if they don't get raises . at least ss and many pensions get cost of living raises .
> 
> some like ourselves have a bigger retirement income from investments then we did working ..so this term living on a fixed income really is silly. ss is no more a "fixed income " then working can be .
> 
> ...



mathjak.....thanks for setting me straight on the fixed income statement. I’ll try to think of a new, exciting name for it. Pappy


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## charry (Dec 24, 2019)

No i dont .....i just spend ................


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## debodun (Dec 26, 2019)

I save all receipts, even when I stop at a convenience store for car gas, I ask for one. At the end of the year, I add everything up and see what I had spent on things like food, insurance, medical co-pays, home & car maintenance, taxes, etc. Not having a credit card requires more bookkeeping.


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## OneEyedDiva (Dec 30, 2019)

When I was poor girl (my 20's and early 30's) making a budget and tracking my spending are what allowed me to be able to "make a dollar out of 15 cents" as the saying goes.  It became a habit that I can't break.  Enter the computer age.  I have two spreadsheets. One self generated where I lists my anticipated monthly expenses. The other is by Vertex with the actual income and spending amounts that self tallies by month and annually. It can probably be said that I micro-manage all aspects of my finances and I enjoy doing so.  It's almost like a hobby for me. An added benefit....when it's time to to report certain things for tax purposes and calculate what my Zakat (obligatory charity) should be...the figures are right there. I don't have to rummage through papers and spend hours trying to figure things out.


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## JustBonee (Dec 30, 2019)

In my working days  I was an accountant.    Out of habit,   I have always tracked  money flow coming and going in personal life.
Even today,   I do a ledger sheet monthly of  expenses,  even though it's  not very involved anymore.  ..  helps me see the big picture,   and that way I don't forget to pay something.


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## In The Sticks (Apr 18, 2020)

**Thread Resurrection Alert**

I've done spreadsheets since the days of Visicalc in the 80s, so I track everything.  I bought a new car a year ago and the mileage/brand/octane/#gallons for every tank of gas is in a spreadsheet.

I tracked every penny spent by category for a year when I first went on Social Security.  I logged every expense from my credit card statement and kept cash receipts.

The only thing that shocked me was how much I spend each month on groceries (over $300/month for a single guy.)  This is just foodstuff, no household products in that number  I rarely buy stuff unless it is on sale.  I buy meats when they're marked down, then vacuum seal and freeze them.  I don't drink alcohol or buy packaged prepared foods.  $10/day just seems high to me, but that's only $3/meal.

I could figure out where that money is being spent if I wanted to put forth the effort, but there's nothing I would change or give up cooking, so I'm not gonna bother.

Other than that, there were no surprises.


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## Camper6 (Apr 19, 2020)

I use Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I hate guessing at the balance in the checking account. I don't trust online banking.


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## Judycat (Apr 19, 2020)

Yes I have to. Only so many bucks to go around.


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## Lc jones (Apr 19, 2020)

Yes we track our money and it’s enabled us to pay off both of our cars completely and also our home, we do not purchase anything we can’t pay off immediately, and we have no outstanding loans and have emergency savings.  It gives our family a great peace of mind especially during emergency times such as these happening today....I see people living beyond their means and then end up in desperate straits when emergencies happen. I wish they would reconsider their lifestyle and save for a rainy day, it gives you a tremendous peace of mind. We are not wealthy people and have sacrificed over the years in order to obtain gratification in the long term, when I hear people say I don’t have enough money to save I know that we could’ve used the same excuse, but we know that it can be done as we and our lifestyle are proof of it.


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## Knight (Apr 19, 2020)

mathjak107 said:


> I only track the total as we go along ..we have no budget issues so I don’t really need to know where it is going ...whatever we are doing we are going to keep doing  ...I can get a ballpark automatically on fidelity full view and pretty much see what went where . But I have no reason to , other than just make sure we are on track


Similar, direct deposit from sources & the account has more in it at the end of every month. Have to say though my wife is trying to reduce that by buying stuff online.


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