I submitted my last post to the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. Check it out!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Expense tracking: keeping it simple
I've always known that tracking your spending and having some kind of budget is a key part of getting your financial house in order. However, I was never actually successful in doing so, and certainly not successful in getting Spender involved with the idea.
At one point, I tried Microsoft Money, but eventually realized I could build a better system by myself in Excel, one that would do exactly what I wanted it to do (and I will admit I spent a lot more energy making the the spreadsheet more and more sophisticated rather than actually keep on top of my spending). I kept the spreadsheet on my laptop, and would occasionally tell Spender "let's do our finances tonight." I would copy and paste most of the transactions from both of our accounts, and ask him what else he'd spent money on. We might do this for a few weeks in a row, but it never lasted more than a month. And while we would occasionally discuss what we should budget each month for different categories, we never got to the point of comparing actual spending to the budget.
But now, despite an early kink, we have a new system is up and running, and this time I'm pretty optimistic. I created a Google spreadsheet with a place to enter the every expense, listing the amount spent along with the date, place and category:
One feature of Google spreadsheets is the ability to easily create a form that enters data into your file. We can just go to a website to enter the info.
There is a second page which sums the spending within each category and compares it to our budget for the month.
Now, I know I shouldn't get too excited after just one week, because budgeting and expense tracking only works if you can follow through for the long term. However, I think we have a few really good things going for us with this system:
1) Both Spender and I can access it at anytime (at least long as we have our computers). We can both add any spending we do, and we can both keep an eye on how close we are to our budgets.
2) It's simple. We are starting by tracking disposable income and current spending. It will track our income (in Euros) and our daily spending and that's all. Our student loans are currently being paid out of our US savings accounts, but I'm not going to try to incorporate that into this sheet. Simple is better. However, it is still flexible enough for us to be able to add anything we thing will be useful.
3) I actually really like the idea of entering expenses manually, because it makes you think about your purchases more than if you just download them from the bank. The Google form makes this super easy, and I don't think it will take more than a few minutes a day (or an hour a week) to keep up.
I'm looking forward to continuing to make this a system that works for both of us.
At one point, I tried Microsoft Money, but eventually realized I could build a better system by myself in Excel, one that would do exactly what I wanted it to do (and I will admit I spent a lot more energy making the the spreadsheet more and more sophisticated rather than actually keep on top of my spending). I kept the spreadsheet on my laptop, and would occasionally tell Spender "let's do our finances tonight." I would copy and paste most of the transactions from both of our accounts, and ask him what else he'd spent money on. We might do this for a few weeks in a row, but it never lasted more than a month. And while we would occasionally discuss what we should budget each month for different categories, we never got to the point of comparing actual spending to the budget.
But now, despite an early kink, we have a new system is up and running, and this time I'm pretty optimistic. I created a Google spreadsheet with a place to enter the every expense, listing the amount spent along with the date, place and category:
One feature of Google spreadsheets is the ability to easily create a form that enters data into your file. We can just go to a website to enter the info.There is a second page which sums the spending within each category and compares it to our budget for the month.
Now, I know I shouldn't get too excited after just one week, because budgeting and expense tracking only works if you can follow through for the long term. However, I think we have a few really good things going for us with this system:
1) Both Spender and I can access it at anytime (at least long as we have our computers). We can both add any spending we do, and we can both keep an eye on how close we are to our budgets.
2) It's simple. We are starting by tracking disposable income and current spending. It will track our income (in Euros) and our daily spending and that's all. Our student loans are currently being paid out of our US savings accounts, but I'm not going to try to incorporate that into this sheet. Simple is better. However, it is still flexible enough for us to be able to add anything we thing will be useful.
3) I actually really like the idea of entering expenses manually, because it makes you think about your purchases more than if you just download them from the bank. The Google form makes this super easy, and I don't think it will take more than a few minutes a day (or an hour a week) to keep up.
I'm looking forward to continuing to make this a system that works for both of us.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Not on the same speadsheet
Spender here. Wait?! What? Spender is going to post to this blog?! I truly loathe disappointing Saver and I want to make every effort I can to save money and contribute to our financial stability and success. Perhaps contributing to this blog will help me stay focused on my fiscal well being. I read a story about the therapy of writing and why blogging is healthy. Maybe that's what I need. A place to sort out these issues.
Keeping track of how much we're spending each day hasn't been a very smooth process for me yet. Surprisingly, I know every penny I've spent this week, however, when I went to input it into the spreadsheet system Saver setup I ran into trouble. I know she made it into a simpler system but it still doesn't make sense to me with the multiple spreadsheets and categories and stuff. It might have helped if we had discussed exactly how to use this tool before she left but I thought it would be straight forward. Well straight forward in my mind is something completely different in hers. I definitely understand the concept behind it but nothing makes sense to me in the way it's laid out. In the mean time, I'm using a calendar and recording my purchases details for each day. That should keep me on track until we are on the same page.
Keeping track of how much we're spending each day hasn't been a very smooth process for me yet. Surprisingly, I know every penny I've spent this week, however, when I went to input it into the spreadsheet system Saver setup I ran into trouble. I know she made it into a simpler system but it still doesn't make sense to me with the multiple spreadsheets and categories and stuff. It might have helped if we had discussed exactly how to use this tool before she left but I thought it would be straight forward. Well straight forward in my mind is something completely different in hers. I definitely understand the concept behind it but nothing makes sense to me in the way it's laid out. In the mean time, I'm using a calendar and recording my purchases details for each day. That should keep me on track until we are on the same page.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Milestones
I'm in Belgium this week, at a week-long Dutch language course. (Half of Belgium speaks Flemmish, which is just a dialect of the Dutch they speak in the Netherlands).
June 1st (yesterday), was Spender's and my five year anniversary. We now know each other better than we've ever known anyone else, though there are still occasionally surprises. We're still complete opposites in almost every way, but now are differences are much more likely to make us crack up laughing than cause a fight.
I still am working on the the balance of where to accept that we'll always be worlds apart (i.e., Spender loves to go out and hang out with friends all night, I like to go to bed around 10:30) and where try to bring us closer together. To be clear, I know Spender is not going to change much of anything just because I want him to. But by setting a good example and being supportive and showing him the benefits of certain lifestyle choices (not to mention working out the math of paying only minimum payments) I do think Spender may eventually become Not-such-a-Spender or even A-little-bit-of-a-Saver. (In Dutch that would be Saverje).
Not related to our anniversary, we decided we would have a new focus on having a budget and saving money. Going forward, we are tracking every penny. We set up a spreadsheet on google docs to keep track of spending and budgeting. I had made a fairly fancy-schmancy one in excel, but that could only live on my laptop. Instead, I've now made a much simpler version that lives online in google spreadsheets. This was Spender can not only update it with his spending every night, he can also see the status of the budget whenever he wants. If I can figure out a way to make sure it stays anonymous, I'll even post it for everyone to see.
June 1st (yesterday), was Spender's and my five year anniversary. We now know each other better than we've ever known anyone else, though there are still occasionally surprises. We're still complete opposites in almost every way, but now are differences are much more likely to make us crack up laughing than cause a fight.
I still am working on the the balance of where to accept that we'll always be worlds apart (i.e., Spender loves to go out and hang out with friends all night, I like to go to bed around 10:30) and where try to bring us closer together. To be clear, I know Spender is not going to change much of anything just because I want him to. But by setting a good example and being supportive and showing him the benefits of certain lifestyle choices (not to mention working out the math of paying only minimum payments) I do think Spender may eventually become Not-such-a-Spender or even A-little-bit-of-a-Saver. (In Dutch that would be Saverje).
Not related to our anniversary, we decided we would have a new focus on having a budget and saving money. Going forward, we are tracking every penny. We set up a spreadsheet on google docs to keep track of spending and budgeting. I had made a fairly fancy-schmancy one in excel, but that could only live on my laptop. Instead, I've now made a much simpler version that lives online in google spreadsheets. This was Spender can not only update it with his spending every night, he can also see the status of the budget whenever he wants. If I can figure out a way to make sure it stays anonymous, I'll even post it for everyone to see.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Time to get serious
Goal for tomorrow:
1) Sit down and figure out where we've spent money in the last 6 weeks
2) Figure out a way to regularly track spending going forward
I've used Microsoft money and mint.com in the past, but now i've actually created my own excel program that does everything the way I want it to. I have everything set up and ready to go, but have not yet been successful at sitting down with it and entering our expenses on a regular basis. We need to be on somewhat of a budget these days, though, so I'm making it a priority. My goal is to reconcile at least once a week.
Spender is on board, and we've agreed to sit down tomorrow night to do our best accounting of the last 6 weeks. Now that we're getting settled in to life here, we can also finalize our budget. As of June 1st, our "we just moved here" excuse is officially over!!
1) Sit down and figure out where we've spent money in the last 6 weeks
2) Figure out a way to regularly track spending going forward
I've used Microsoft money and mint.com in the past, but now i've actually created my own excel program that does everything the way I want it to. I have everything set up and ready to go, but have not yet been successful at sitting down with it and entering our expenses on a regular basis. We need to be on somewhat of a budget these days, though, so I'm making it a priority. My goal is to reconcile at least once a week.
Spender is on board, and we've agreed to sit down tomorrow night to do our best accounting of the last 6 weeks. Now that we're getting settled in to life here, we can also finalize our budget. As of June 1st, our "we just moved here" excuse is officially over!!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Coming Clean
Like any good personal finance blogger, I plan to post regular (monthly?) updates on my progress of paying down debt and savings toward goals. My finances are just starting to get settled after we moved to Amsterdam in April. I had been holding on to some cash because I wasn't too sure about how much our living expenses would be, but it's looking like my paycheck (in Euros) will be enough to cover everything. I'm leaving the money in US savings accounts (at my bank and Emigrant Direct) for the automatic transfers to my student loans and my Roth IRA, but I do need to do some thinking about how to manage my finances on two-continents! That'll be a post for another time, though.
Here are the numbers:
Debt:
Student loan, $13,176.35 @ 3.25%
Savings:
Vanguard Roth IRA, $9,970.34
Roth 401(k), contributed $2,980.00 so far
Employer retirement plan, I think around $12,000 (I'm unable to access the account at the moment)
Cash savings, $13,326.66
Living expense money in Dutch bank account: $2,226.74 (€1412.64)
Spender's situation is not quite the same as mine.
Debt:
Student Loans, $15,182.10 (at rates between 5-7%)
Credit card debt, $386.02 (although my typing that has prompted Spender to log on and pay it off).
Savings:
Roth IRA $751.76
Cash savings, $1,965.07
My personal goals are to pay down my student loans (despite really wanting to pay them off, I had been saving in a HYSA because the interest rate was better. Now that the interest rates have come down, that's no longer worth it), and to max out my Roth IRA. I'd also like to resume contributing to my 401(k), which I put on hold when I moved. My employer contributes a fixed amount to our retirement plan each year in December, so I'm not missing out on any free money by not contributing now. I also have a goal of doing a lot of travelling this year, and will have to be careful to balance being frugal and saving for the future with taking advantage of the opportunity for some amazing experiences.
My goals for Spender are simple: Pay off those loans!! and develop a savings habit.
Here are the numbers:
Debt:
Student loan, $13,176.35 @ 3.25%
Savings:
Vanguard Roth IRA, $9,970.34
Roth 401(k), contributed $2,980.00 so far
Employer retirement plan, I think around $12,000 (I'm unable to access the account at the moment)
Cash savings, $13,326.66
Living expense money in Dutch bank account: $2,226.74 (€1412.64)
Spender's situation is not quite the same as mine.
Debt:
Student Loans, $15,182.10 (at rates between 5-7%)
Credit card debt, $386.02 (although my typing that has prompted Spender to log on and pay it off).
Savings:
Roth IRA $751.76
Cash savings, $1,965.07
My personal goals are to pay down my student loans (despite really wanting to pay them off, I had been saving in a HYSA because the interest rate was better. Now that the interest rates have come down, that's no longer worth it), and to max out my Roth IRA. I'd also like to resume contributing to my 401(k), which I put on hold when I moved. My employer contributes a fixed amount to our retirement plan each year in December, so I'm not missing out on any free money by not contributing now. I also have a goal of doing a lot of travelling this year, and will have to be careful to balance being frugal and saving for the future with taking advantage of the opportunity for some amazing experiences.
My goals for Spender are simple: Pay off those loans!! and develop a savings habit.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Welcome to my (pf) life
When I decided it would be fun to start a personal finance blog, I mentioned it to Spender, and he thought it would be a great idea. I was excited about doing something together, and thought it would be a little different than the blogs that are out that. Spender has expressed his desire to get more serious about personal finances, and thought this would be a good way to go about it.
I set up a pretty basic blog, gave us each usernames and everything, and wrote my first post. Everthing is good! We have this idea that we'll try to alternate posts, so I encourage Spender to write an introductory post. He keeps saying he will...but it's now been about a month. His main explanation is, "I dont know what to write."
So I'm making the executive decision that I will try to post regularly, and he can post however often (or not) he wants to. It's a little less joint blog, a little more my blog with some input from him. Not really a big deal, because I'm the one that wanted the blog in the first place.
The thing is, this is so totally representative of how we run our finances. I get excited about doing things like sitting down and making a joint budget or figuring out savings goals. Spender listens to me, gives a bit of input, and then goes on his way. His main explanation is, "I don't know what we should do." He doesn't always do the things we talk about (like open a ING account) and goes back to his not-focused-on-responsible-personal-finance ways. It's not really fun to be left as the one who has to be in charge of everything, but the alternative is for nobody to be in charge.
So I will take the lead, post whether or not Spender does, and see if reading all this in print will encourage Spender to change his ways.
I set up a pretty basic blog, gave us each usernames and everything, and wrote my first post. Everthing is good! We have this idea that we'll try to alternate posts, so I encourage Spender to write an introductory post. He keeps saying he will...but it's now been about a month. His main explanation is, "I dont know what to write."
So I'm making the executive decision that I will try to post regularly, and he can post however often (or not) he wants to. It's a little less joint blog, a little more my blog with some input from him. Not really a big deal, because I'm the one that wanted the blog in the first place.
The thing is, this is so totally representative of how we run our finances. I get excited about doing things like sitting down and making a joint budget or figuring out savings goals. Spender listens to me, gives a bit of input, and then goes on his way. His main explanation is, "I don't know what we should do." He doesn't always do the things we talk about (like open a ING account) and goes back to his not-focused-on-responsible-personal-finance ways. It's not really fun to be left as the one who has to be in charge of everything, but the alternative is for nobody to be in charge.
So I will take the lead, post whether or not Spender does, and see if reading all this in print will encourage Spender to change his ways.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The beginnings of all things are small
I'm a Saver. He's a Spender. This is the story of how we make that work and achieve our financial (and other) goals.
I want to start this blog mainly as a way to give us some accountability in both our finances and the way we deal with them together. It's also a way to get Spender more excited about personal finance in general.
The main posts on this blog will probably be thoughts about budgeting, saving, spending, setting goals, sharing resources, compromising, and learning from one another. We'll also throw in some posts about being expats and travelling frugally. We'll each post separately with our own thoughts and perspectives - sometimes taking turns, sometimes on the same topic.
I hope that some readers out there will find us and be able to learn from our experiences, our successes and our failures. Or at least be entertained a bit along the way.
I want to start this blog mainly as a way to give us some accountability in both our finances and the way we deal with them together. It's also a way to get Spender more excited about personal finance in general.
The main posts on this blog will probably be thoughts about budgeting, saving, spending, setting goals, sharing resources, compromising, and learning from one another. We'll also throw in some posts about being expats and travelling frugally. We'll each post separately with our own thoughts and perspectives - sometimes taking turns, sometimes on the same topic.
I hope that some readers out there will find us and be able to learn from our experiences, our successes and our failures. Or at least be entertained a bit along the way.
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