Good day, all, and a happy new year to those that I haven't wished yet. :)
AL, I haven't told you why I haven't used the cat repellant yet, and I can't get online to any of my messengers so I'll just rant it out here instead. For a few days leading to the holidays, the cats didn't do anything, so I thought maybe they've repented, and mended their ways for the new year.
I was wrong.
On New Year's eve itself, they launched a stinker. And the next day, another stinker. I cleaned it all up yesterday, and I'm going to use the cat repellant today to see if it works. The benchmark that I'm going to use is - no stinkers for a week.
For those who knew, I've only started using Quicken to collect data on my expenditure in late November. I've always had trouble finding out where my money went, because they always "miraculously" disappear at the end of the month. I have to admit that I lack discipline in spending money, but without knowing where it goes, it's really difficult to start changing the bad habits that I've developed over the years.
Not anymore!
It's been a month plus, and I'm happy to report that I am slowly getting into the habit of putting every single expenditure of mine into Quicken. It wasn't something that happened overnight, I've contemplated on using some kind of money management software for about 6 months before I actually got to buying one. And even then, I've used Excel to keep track of every penny for 3 months to see if I can get into the routine. Once I was sure I can do this everyday, I dumped Excel and got meself Quicken. Woot!
Okay, now for the scary part. I can't really look into November because it wasn't a full month. December however, proves to be scary.
A little background. Before I started with all these tracking-every-penny thingy, I came up with a rough budget as to how I thought I should be spending my money. Note that this is just a preliminary one, subject to change once I manage to collect the appropriate data and fine tune it to something I can be comfortable with.
Looking into December, I exceeded the budget for certain categories: Dining - 936.87 (budgeted: 600) Entertainment, Drinks - 1011.07 (budgeted: 300) Gifts given - 357.00 (budgeted: 0)
Now, given that December is a festive month, I probably should give myself some leeway in spending. Both dining and gift spending probably can be forgiven.
HOWEVER. I can't believe I overspent the Entertainment:drinks category by a whopping 237% !!!
Hmm.. I guess this area will need some work. I either will have to go out drinking less, or drink less when I go out. Reading this made me feel even more guilty. Half of that amount, 500, saved every month from 27 years of age, compounded at a meagre 7% a year will amount to 1,113,842 by the time I'm 65. I'm literally pissing a million away!
Okay, now for the fine-tuning. The other budget categories will remain the same, while the Entertainment:drinks category have been re-tuned to 450 instead of 300. Auto:transport came up to 365.7 vs the budgeted 460, so I've re-tuned it to 400. I got a lot of lifts from a friend this month, so I'm still not sure if the data for the transport reflects my real expenditure. Yet to be seen.
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you made realistic resolutions to keep! ;)
