Personal finances and you

[Threviel]

We have a rather complicated way och keeping our finances in order. After our marriage in 2009 we nearly broke. Or rather, we did not have that much cash, we were down to about 10000 SEK (1000 €) in our checkings account. A few months before we were flush with money and we did not understand what had happened, we had no real oversight on our economy.

This conveniently was in January so I set up an Excel-sheet. In that sheet I had columns for each months and rows for each type of income and expense. the sum was set to always correlate to our checkings account. A few times a week we updated the sheet and that way we got oversight of our economy. Once set up it was quite easy to keep up to date.

Then something strange happened. Since each and every expense had to go into that sheet each and every expense got us thinking. It stopped being nice to buy a coffee when waiting for the train, instead I bought a Thermos. And so on and so forth. We got very aware of every expense and slowly we got into another mindset. After a few months our economy was back in order, but it became a sport to save money. Over the years it's been really interesting to follow our spending, how it changed with kids and so on. I very much doubt that I could have taken a year and a half of paternal leave without that Excel sheet. it made me interested in economy and we have set up proper retirement funds and also good savings for the kids. That sheet has probably saved us several 100 000 SEK and it has also been liberating. Since we set that up our economy has not been any problem for us, sure we are limited in what we can do, but we know why.

So, how do you do personal finances? Do you have any tricks or special methods?

[Admiral Yi]

I try to buy as much as possible with cash.  That way I don't get gobsmacked with big credit card bills and I can roughly budget by the ATM withdrawal.

[celedhring]

 I try to keep my fixed expenses under control. That means everything gets paid upfront and cc bills are settled at the end of the month. The idea is keeping my fixed spending at the lowest percentage of my income possible, so if I go through a bad stretch I have just to adjust my discretionary spending.

[mongers]

snip
....
. That sheet has probably saved us several 100 000 SEK and it has also been liberating. Since we set that up our economy has not been any problem for us, sure we are limited in what we can do, but we know why.

So, how do you do personal finances? Do you have any tricks or special methods?

Yes spreadsheets are a highly useful tool, no matter how much or how little money you have.

[Habbaku]

I budget for the big items (car payment, student loans, rent) and other mandatory items (groceries, gas, yearly vacations) very rigidly. Groceries and gas are deliberately over-budgeted to allow for a cushion to build up, but I've only rarely needed it (gas prices have been going down here instead of up).

All my other spending is just impulse control and automatic deductions from my pay each week (like retirement investments). I'm a naturally cheap-minded person, so don't buy all that much. Buying everything on the same two credit cards helps me keep track of potential overspending. I take a look every couple of months and try to make myself aware of where the money's going, but otherwise don't worry too much.

[Josquius]

I've tried tracking and such things in the past but it becomes too much of a pain.
I think I'm generally pretty good at keeping my spending in order, I've never been the sort of person who turns down an invitation in the week leading up to payday, I always maintain the same level of prudent spending; I don't rush into big purchases (I take way too long actually...) and balk at paying too much even for things I can afford.

Still. Aiming to buy my own place this year. That should provide some short term massive pain for a longer term gain of eliminating rent.

[Grey Fox]

I use a credit card extensively, I only use cash to pay my hair dresser.

I've devolved all household money management to my girl friend.

[Iormlund]

To be honest I've never been in a position where money became an issue. My salary has always been above average and is now in the 90 percentile. Even when I got laid off I could fall back on 2 years of max-capped unemployment benefits.

I've never been much of a big spender either (I still have my 13 yo KIA for example). Nights out and trips with my girlfriend are by far the biggest expense in my life.

[Razgovory]

I have no money and mostly subsist on things I find lying on the ground.

[KRonn]

I try to keep my monthly expenses within a certain amount and I do try and keep my discretionary spending to a certain limit. I try to keep my cash spending to a certain amount per month. That all is ok but of course additional expenses always come up that can throw things out of whack.

[crazy canuck]

We have a rather complicated way och keeping our finances in order. After our marriage in 2009 we nearly broke. Or rather, we did not have that much cash, we were down to about 10000 SEK (1000 €) in our checkings account. A few months before we were flush with money and we did not understand what had happened, we had no real oversight on our economy.

This conveniently was in January so I set up an Excel-sheet. In that sheet I had columns for each months and rows for each type of income and expense. the sum was set to always correlate to our checkings account. A few times a week we updated the sheet and that way we got oversight of our economy. Once set up it was quite easy to keep up to date.

Then something strange happened. Since each and every expense had to go into that sheet each and every expense got us thinking. It stopped being nice to buy a coffee when waiting for the train, instead I bought a Thermos. And so on and so forth. We got very aware of every expense and slowly we got into another mindset. After a few months our economy was back in order, but it became a sport to save money. Over the years it's been really interesting to follow our spending, how it changed with kids and so on. I very much doubt that I could have taken a year and a half of paternal leave without that Excel sheet. it made me interested in economy and we have set up proper retirement funds and also good savings for the kids. That sheet has probably saved us several 100 000 SEK and it has also been liberating. Since we set that up our economy has not been any problem for us, sure we are limited in what we can do, but we know why.

So, how do you do personal finances? Do you have any tricks or special methods?

When we first got married finances were easy.  My scholarships paid for university, Mrs.  CC's first bi-weekly paycheck paid the rent and her second paycheck paid for all our discretionary spending.  Having a set amount to spend was very disciplining in terms of what we choose to purchase.  We have followed that basic strategy all our marriage by agreeing every year about how much we wanted to spend that year and the rest would be invested.  However the amount has increased a bit and the real wild card is the seemingly exponential increase in kids expenses as they grow older.

[Tonitrus]

[Threviel]

Ahh, a lot of out potential savings has been spent on time with the kids. My wife stayed at home for 4 1/2 years and I'll be at home for 1 1/2. The thinking is that we'll have better use of memories than money at 65.

What makes them more expensive as time goes on?

[crazy canuck]

Ahh, a lot of out potential savings has been spent on time with the kids. My wife stayed at home for 4 1/2 years and I'll be at home for 1 1/2. The thinking is that we'll have better use of memories than money at 65.

What makes them more expensive as time goes on?

life in general.  The older they get the more activities they do and then the big cost kicks in with university.  At a certain age they begin to work to help defray the cost but they can't earn enough to keep going without help or going into debt.

[The Brain]

My lifestyle is more modest than my income, so I rarely think a lot about expenses or finances.