DH says everybody keeps track of their finances by logging receipts

[shewhowines]

After another long night of DH huffing and puffing "doing the finances", we had the age old discussion of him saying he needs to, because that is the only way and most people do it like that (his mum does), and me saying 90% of people don't do it his way.

He makes me keep every receipt and he logs every single item we buy, on a complicated spreadsheet. He uses this to forecast our expenses so that he can transfer money if necessary. Can I just add, he is not controlling as to what I spend. It's just if I spend it, or get money out, I must keep the receipt. The system obviously works, but it is sooo time consuming. I wouldn't mind, but then I have to put up with him moaning.

I say that most people work retrospectively. They scan through their credit card bill to make sure there are no errors, and correlate this with their bank statement. Money can be transferred if necessary, at that point.

I am right aren't I? Nobody keeps their receipts and meticulously logs every bloody transaction.

I know people who do this, but I think they're unspeakably anal don't.

But seriously, folks, I think I need to start getting more of a grip, even a rough one, on what I spend. I just can't be arsed with the receipts thing.

But eddie why wouldn't you just look at your online account every couple of days to see how much you have left?

I don't have a problem with people keeping track of what they're spending, it's the method in this case. Why keep receipts and log them in a spreadsheet which is essentially just recreating a bank statement?

Sorry, not attacking you, just a bit befuddled!

My DP has done this religiously for as long as she can remember....however, she was also in a HUGE amount of debt when I met her!!! To be fair though, the fact that she had been very organised meant that it was easier to sort the problem out and it is now all paid off! I've never done this and realistically don't think I ever will!

I make a note of larger expenses and try to hold onto receipts until they appear in online banking. I'm not that meticulous though. My spreadsheet is pretty awesome though. Working in accounts its not surprising.

Err no. But then as a SAHM currently I try not to spend money unnecessarily. My partner has a spreadsheet to deal with bills and monthly expenditure. He knows I don't overspend on anything, I'm always liking for ways to spend less, so he doesn't ask me to keep receipts or anything.

You do realise that you have attracted a very skewed sample here?

Every person on MN who does this, or knows someone who does, has responded positively to your title, because it relates specifically to their experience.

A small subset of other people has responded.

You must therefore dilute the number of positive responses according to the number of people logged onto MN over the relevant period.

The only time I give DH a list of what I spent is this time of year. Because I can guarantee the credit card company will ring about 'unusal activity' on the account. You know due to buying Christmas gifts etc. So I tend to give him a list of what I spent for no other reason so when cc contact him he has all the information.

Other then that nope never have.

I have a spreadsheet but, no, I don't track every receipt.

My husband and I use our ATM cards for 99% of our purchases anything that is spent in cash above our "pocket money" we keep the receipt for. So I maybe enter 10 receipts a month.

It works for us and is getting us out of debt!

Orange - it's because using your balance as an indication of what you've got left to spend can be very dangerous. If, for example, a particular transaction takes a while to go through, the £70 you thought you had might only be £43 but you've just spent £60 filling up the car...

If it's just you and your own transactions to keep track of, you may well be able to look at your online statement and notice something hasn't gone through, but if you have a joint account it can be a bit more tricky.

My dh keeps every receipt and also jots down in his diary when he withdraws money. When the bank statement comes in he ticks off the receipts etc. I am not this anal but he did spot that Santander had charged us twice on a £50 cash withdrawal a few months back!

Oh no lottie I fear you may be right.
Note to DH - this is an extremely important fact.

My grandad did this. When he died, aged 95, we found books of logs of cash flow dating back to the 40s, including when he and DGM bought their first house together (approx £800!). DGPs were comfortably off, not wealthy, but comfortable and careful and never got into debt. I wouldn't go to the extremes they did in terms of recording every transaction etc, but their attitude to money was a lot healthier than lots of people these days - no buy now, pay later mentality. If they couldn't afford it, they saved and went without until they could.

I have to say, I don't know anyone with your DH's system. We have a spreadsheet so we know roughly what we need for what each month, but we check through bank statements in case of anything untoward, we don't tally everything up against receipts. For one, I'd have so many that it'd take forever!

I'm self employed, and I track my earnings in a spreadsheet for tax purposes and to note what times of day/month/year I earn more or less.

But aside from that....Er no!This is weird!I am totally anal with money, will walk an extra mile to save 50p on groceries and am nicknamed 'Tightus' by my friends and DP but this sounds a bit psychotic to me lol

He's running the home as if he's running it as a business.

Wibbly that sort of thing should be donated to a museum or university - I can imagine somebody wanting to study it in future.

Thats why he was moaning last night wibbly. Apparently I had too many receipts

Clutter - the credit card company calling reminds me of my PIL. A couple of Christmases ago, MIL was in John Lewis on Oxford Street Xmas shopping and FIL got a call re unusual card activity (she'd bought various things in various departments, made a day of it). Cue him telling them it was his more than likely his wife Xmas shopping and not to worry about the amount!

MrsCakes - my uncle still has them. It was really interesting seeing how prices had changed etc - including how they'd budgeted for an extension on the only house they ever lived in together (60 plus years) - the sums are so tiny by today's standards. There were lists of birthday money given to me and my cousins - £6 at age 6, £7 at 7, with a cap at £10 for 10 and then £18/£21 when we reached 18 and 21 respectively.

Interestingly, despite a relatively low paid job, plus another 30 or so years of retirement, DGF died with over £200,000 in the bank (no one had a clue about this). How many of us these days could do the same?

it honestly takes me so little time to do it

and it's not about the balance now, it's about the balance several months down the line

Can't he just go through the bank statement online every few days? Seems a bit mad to expect you to collect every receipt.

I do have a spreadsheet - but it has all the set bill payments on - then I just add all the spending on as a lump sum, taking it from the online bank statements.

Only because we kept running out of money by the end of the month - so it just allows us to keep track and make sure we don't.

I have a friend who is meticulous with her finances. She is much better off than me, despite similar incomes.

I don't keep receipts, but I have complete financial records categorising to the penny everything received or spent since 1st of January 1995. (I had records before then, but that was the date I changed software to Quicken, I still use Quicken 2000 now. Not suggesting anyone switch to Quicken who is not already using it, as it's not been sold or supported for several years, and is slightly incompatible with Windows 8.)

It takes me maybe half-an-hour, once a month, to maintain records, mostly from bank and credit card statements. Occasionally I need to search my email for Amazon receipts or login to Paypal to remind myself what a particular payment was for. The small amount of cash spending I do is usually all categorised as personal spending, and when there is a an exception (say cash payment to plumber) it's not hard to remember and categorise appropriately.

I do have a spreadsheet - but it has all the set bill payments on - then I just add all the spending on as a lump sum, taking it from the online bank statements.

sounds perfect to me

I know if I do this then I spend less on pointless stuff. I use it as a tool for understanding where the money is going and looking at why I spent it.

I do this. Log all expenditure and categorised. It comes up with running totals of amount spent and amount left in budget. This means both me and DH don't just look at account balance an spend (joint card). Plus it also shows total amount spent in each category so that I can see how much per month.

I was financially a bit of an ostrich for a while (couple of years, once I reached the end of the overdraft I had to live on beans for a few days - sometimes a week - till payday).

Then I decided to get a bit more organised, I set up a spreadsheet which lists all my direct debits and the dates on which they are due.

A few times a month I go in and update this - current bank balance, amt in savings, direct debits still due - and it tells me how much I have left till the end of the month.

I haven't been anywhere near the end of the overdraft since I did this, and now have much more going into savings than I used to have.

I think the trick is to ensure that savings come out of the account just after payday - and go into a credit union account that I have to be there in person to make any withdrawals. The harder it is to get to, the less I dip into it.

But I don't go to the extreme of logging every receipt - maybe if I did, I'd save even more...

I use GNU Cash and so does DH... although i don' have time to log all the cash expenses but do my best