October Round Up - Money Tracking Revisited

Well, shoot. I thought I was doing so well in October, but after crunching the numbers, I didn't do nearly as well as I had hoped! Do you know what the problem is? I can't seem to keep up with my daily finance tracking.

So, here's the thing: I did really well in certain budget categories, namely utilities and auto fuel. I was under in electric, water and fuel and hit exactly on target for all the others. I also was under budget on entertainment, dining out and gifts. However, certain other categories got me: car maintenance (and the too expensive oil change), purchases for home improvement projects and that one that gets me every time, "Misc." This time it was a combination of Health and Beauty items, the fantastic conference I attended, and the books I bought to sell online. Each month it is something different for this category, which makes it hard to budget for. The only good news is that my over spending was less than it has been in other months.

What bothered me though, was that I was surprised by these over expenditures. Had I known I was doing it that would have been one thing, but I was actually blown away. For example, I knew I was probably over in the Home Improvement category - but not by as much as I was!! It is not that the purchases aren't worthy or that they won't help save money in the future; I bought landscaping stones to try to prevent a drainage problem, a hot water heater blanket, window seal kits for my tenant - all understandable purchases. The problem was that I thought I was $10-$15 over, when I was more like $40. I know what the problem is, of course, it is because I haven't been doing my daily spending tracking.

The problem is I am just not good at jotting down every expenditure; I forget or I put the receipt in my purse to add later or whatever. I just seem to have a mental block about doing it. So, when I crunched September's budget I carefully used my monthly bank statement to verify the numbers I had been keeping on my budget. I made a few adjustments, but overall it worked out well. So well, in fact, I decided to just use the monthly statement this month - BIG MISTAKE!

By not adding in my purchases each day, I just lost track. That step of taking my daily spending and putting it into the correct slot in my budget spreadsheet is a constant reminder to be frugal. Had I been doing it, I am sure that I would have purchased less or deferred some of the purchases to this month. So, I have a solution that I am going to try for this month. Pretty much every weekday I check my bank accounts online just to make sure things are running the way they should. When I do this, I am also going to have my budget spreadsheet open and handy so I can add the previous day's purchases. For the most part I pay for everything with a debit card and as fast as stores process purchases these days, I should be pretty up to date with everything.

The one hole in this solution is, of course, cash. Not quite sure what to do there, though typically I make very few cash purchases. I am just going to have to make a strong effort to remember them so I can add them to the spreadsheet. Big cash purchases are easy to remember - it is the small stuff (like parking meters) I forget. But then again, a parking meter or two isn't going to break my budget.

I am still pleased with October, however. My cash income was up nicely and I was able to make some changes that resulted in measurable savings. Overall I was able to spend less than I took in, which is exactly what I am looking for! Now, let's see how November goes, shall we?



Photo of his rent by: velo_city