Do you keep track of your spending habits?

[bluewraith]

I don't just mean keeping your check register current.. do you actually track how much you spend on certain things?
I got a bit curious this afternoon, so I whipped up a new spreadsheet (yay! data!) and copied my check register into it and labeled a few things. A couple formulas later, I came up with this.

Since September of last year (239 days total) I've spent:
$1146.78 in gas for my car.
$338 in groceries
$598.16 in fast food, $207.79 of which is in delivery pizza alone.
$343.55 for Comcast basic cable tv and broadband internet.
$605.22 for my cell phone.
$462 for electric service.

I can see some pretty major issues here... one of which is I eat way too damn much pizza.
It's rather mildly amusing that I spent more for ONE gun than I have for ALL of my food since September.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I use Quicken and use my credit card for most purchases, then pay it off every payday. That pretty much automatically tracks everything for me.

 

[chezuki]

I don't just mean keeping your check register current.. do you actually track how much you spend on certain things?
I got a bit curious this afternoon, so I whipped up a new spreadsheet (yay! data!) and copied my check register into it and labeled a few things. A couple formulas later, I came up with this.

Since September of last year (239 days total) I've spent:
$1146.78 in gas for my car.
$338 in groceries
$598.16 in fast food, $207.79 of which is in delivery pizza alone.
$343.55 for Comcast basic cable tv and broadband internet.
$605.22 for my cell phone.
$462 for electric service.

I can see some pretty major issues here... one of which is I eat way too damn much pizza.
It's rather mildly amusing that I spent more for ONE gun than I have for ALL of my food since September.

How do you spend so little on groceries? The wife and I use coupons and are very much bargain shoppers and we spend more than that monthly. Granted, your fast food bill explains some of this, but less than $10 a week on groceries? Seriously?!?

 

[bluewraith]

I'm a single guy living alone... lol

 

[bluewraith]

I also dont venture very far with my palate when I cook. Meat and potatoes are a pretty big staple for me when I cook. I eat a lot of breakfast style meals, and I'm a HUGE fan of PB&Js. I also never buy frozen foods. Everything is dry goods or fresh.

Doing the math, it works out to about $27/wk for food. Thats a LOT less than I thought it would be really..

 

[chezuki]

Lol, shopping done!

 

[bluewraith]

Lol, shopping done!

 

[chezuki]

I can't stand that **** either. Now that I have to watch sodium, I have a great reason to never eat it again.

 

[jd4320t]

I'm scared of the numbers so I don't do the math.

 

[ATOMonkey]

Absolutely I do. After years of not getting ahead and having no idea why it was time to do some serious calculating.

Now, changing habbits once you know where the problem lies is a whole other ball of wax.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

If/when you do get married and have kids, look for that food bill to sky rocket, not to mention the diapers, wipes, and clothes costs. I swear we can't leave walmart with less than $150, and that is usually formula, baby food, and diapers plus a few other things for the week since we eat almost all deer meat and free turkey from the farm we hunt on.

 

[Birds Away]

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[red46239]

I don't just mean keeping your check register current.. do you actually track how much you spend on certain things?

Yep.
Dave Ramsey Homepage - daveramsey.com

 

[Tnichols00]

Without looking at my numbers I can tell you almost exactly.

-Grocery's $60 per week for a family of four I think my wife spends a little less and pockets the rest, but our rule is if it can't get done for less than $60 it comes out of her allowance cause she does the shopping so I guess its only fair she can pocket what she doesn't spend.
-Allowance $20 per person $40 total. This is for random things from stopping to get a beer on the way home to picking up a coffee at the gas station and even eating out.
-Cable and internet $00 I have a work phone and portable wifi from work, and don't watch much TV
-Fuel $60 per week for two vehicles. This is what changes the most in our budget but that number stands pretty true most of the time. $40 is mine and $20 is hers but sometimes she drives a little more. This is the only thing we put on our debit card. Simply because its silly to go into the gas station and be tempted by the items inside as well as my wife taking two kids in or leaving them outside is not a good idea.
-Cell Phone $00 mine is a work phone and for whatever reason my almost 30 year old wife has her parents paying for her phone bill (She is the baby and only daughter of 4 kids)
Electric- $15 per week totaling $60 per month all winter, heat the house with wood. Summer will be a little more $100-$120

Dog Food $5 per week.

Personal Fun Funds, We all have our hobbies, so we each get $20 per week added that that as well, this could be for guns, ammo or anything else that needs saved up for.

We don't have Credit Cards, don't have car loans, the only thing I left out if my mortgage.

Total before mortgage is $175 per week, we keep our checking right around $1000 at all times and the rest goes to savings.

We only work in cash on a day to day basis and anything outside of these list must be approved by both me and my wife.
Example, a hose broke on my wifes Lincoln the other day, $39 to get the new hose, I had to run the cost by my wife, we agreed it was a good decision to make this purchase and then I put it on my debit card. (Saves a trip to the bank).

While it sounds absolutely silly to be this anal about every penny you would be surprised how much it helps your happiness and your marriage. We never have a money fight, we always have money to do what we want when we want and if something unexpected happens we can always afford to work around it. I am not super rich, I have a good job and my wife stays home with the kids. Don't get me wrong we do use our debit card just discuss each purchase before it happens, this way we can both hold each other accountable and are not doing silly things. We started doing this because my wife added up and I was spending about $40 per week at gas stations getting drinks, snacks, and other things. My wife had the same problem with online shopping. But now we are better and have more of the things we wanted.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I don't specifically track expenses. My wife and I are both frugal and very wise with our spending. We of course treat ourselves to the occasional splurges (firearms etc for me, woman stuff for her) but for the most part we just don't buy anything we don't need. Our income well out-paces our expenses and we're working on paying down debt. Should have our mortgage paid off soon. Not bad at our age and for as little time as we've "owned" the home...

I swear we can't leave walmart with less than $150, and that is usually formula, baby food, and diapers

Not busting your chops or saying you're wrong or anything but just pointing out the things that really stood out to me...

Formula: there is a way around that, and it's much healthier for your baby as well, but we won't get into that discussion
Baby food: Super cheap and easy to make your own... HUGE money saver
Diapers: There are alternatives that come out a lot cheaper than the disposables, but they come with a bit more work involved

 

[eldirector]

My wife studied accounting, and runs a paper register for our home. I have NO IDEA what exactly is in it. But, she knows EXACTLY where every dollar goes.

She even has a bunch of "shadow" accounts in her book, for squirrelling away money for special projects. Every dollar has a name on it.

This has really helped us identify waste. If our bills don't match her allocation, a red flag goes up.