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.

at the press of a button we know how much we have left till pay day.

We have this too, its called online banking. Except the bank has done all the faffing for us, leaving us to, y'know, have a life?

I know one person who has a spreadsheet and does this. They skimp on everything, bitch that anyone charging them money for a service is 'ripping them off' and ask how much everything is when they come round your house. Whatever money they have left over at the end of the month is paid on their mortgage, and they have a column showing that money coming off so they can feel good about it. In short they are addicted to deferred gratification. To the point they get a frugal thrill out of not spending money. They feel superior to us if we go for a curry and they don't etc. It is a joyless life. They seem to be consumed by paying off the mortgage. But i wonder what they will replace that with when they do. So much of life will have passed them by.

I don't really understand the need for it anyway, we have all our DDs come out at the beginning of the month. They do not deviate. We then have x amount of cash left over which is taken out and spent, £y each per week. There is never a risk of going overdrawn. We don't use switch or cheques.

I am wondering if the people who do track all their spending like this are better off than the rest of us (a) because they do this or (b) because they are more thrifty by nature (and that's also why they track all their spending)

I'm a terrible fritterer of money - if i do bother to keep my budget thing up i do really cut back as i am horrified how much i spend. So i would say both

The app i have is Spending Tracker

Thing is, you only need to know exactly what's left that month if you're likely to run out of money.

If you're able to stand the hit of say car insurance one month, a holiday or vet bill in another, without going bankrupt, because you're comfortably in credit and / or have enough coming in, then monthly accounts aren't that interesting. You just have an awareness over the year.

I've never found it hard to hold in my head the months when insurance was going to be renewed, or anything similarly large anyway.

When earning reasonably, I just got into the 'good habit' of scraping anything above a certain amount at the end of the month into a savings account. I had a general idea of my means and lived within them. I didn't need to track details to do that. Though, an occasional delve into the detail to check if I was frittering funds away on silly things or being over-charged was helpful as a stocktaking exercise.

It's only since not working, with quite a tight household budget, that I've found planning, tracking and adjusting detail useful.

So, OP, if you're comfortable and in credit, both have an awareness of your means and are not spendthrifts, then what is all this achieving? Especially if he's not taking any action as a result?

I don't do this and don't know anyone that does. I am on a very tight budget as well. Sounds like he has OCD and it has become an obsession. When he next asks for a receipt tell him to bog off and get a life. Feel for you, must drive you mad.

I rarely use physical cash and it's easy to glance at online banking every couple of days.

I do have a simple spreadsheet for monthly direct debits.

Oh God, I do this and I had no idea I was odd. I just thought I was "good with money".

I put all my receipts into a box every night when I empty my bag. On the first of the month I reconcile them with my credit card and bank statements, file important or billable receipts and shred the rest.

It's not a faff at all - it makes tax returns and expenses claims very easy. I find it really satisfying .

Every time I use my debit or credit card, I put the receipt in a little tin and then rip them up when they have gone through my account.

I also check my online banking every day so that I will notice if there are any unusual/disputed transactions.

Keeping a spreadsheet sounds a bit ridiculous to be honest.

"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?"

Good grief, this is one of the saddest things I have read in a long time...and the fact that the Poster (the DGDaughter) seems to consider it a good thing? It makes me want to weep!

Your poor, poor DGF, 30 years that he could have been travelling the world, living it up, having fun, enjoying himself! All that time and he kept it squirreled away in the bank, for what? A rainy day? So sad

If that tale isn't a lesson to us all, I don't know what is.

This is definitely old school, why don't you introduce him to an expenses software of some sort on your smart phones, much more friendly and up to date

Look, I'll accept that there is middle ground between mindlessly frittering it away and scrooge-like miserliness, and that I probably exist towards the former end.

It does have to be said though that some of the behaviour described on this thread (OP's DH being the prime example) is really veering towards the weird and slightly obsessive to be honest.

Wouldn't you rather sacrifice a few quid each month to actually have a life and not have everyone else think you're weird, because, believe me, if it got out that some of you behave in the way that you do, others will think you decidedly odd.

My parents keep receipts and tick everything off on their bank statement.

I go thru periodically my online bank statement and check all is as expected and scan for unknown items

For balance: I don't do this.

I used to.

Now I have Let. It. Go. and improved my life considerably. In ditching the obsessive penny juggling, I am no worse or better off, financially. It has made sod all difference.

However I now have a spring in my step and a song in my heart, hurrah.

Mr shewhowines: honestly, the world will still turn if you don't have a receipt for a latte and a gingerbread man from 3 weeks ago last Tuesday. It really doesn't matter.

I don't log receipts, but I do download transactions from bank accounts and credit cards and log them in a spreadsheet. I have a formula which categorises things based on who the cash was spend with and a formula which compares against my budget and does a cashflow projection.

Before children I took it a lot further; used to analyse grocery receipts into categories (meat, veg, junk, dairy etc.) Sounds OTT, but I scraped enough money together to take a year of maternity on SSP (hard as I am the main earner.)

Yes I am an accountant.
I heart spreadsheets.

I have a bit of software that tracks bills and forecast budgets. I enter all recurring bills into it and then enter a typical credit card bill as a monthly debt. That way I can look at next months budget and anticipate my spending.

I do enter receipts for my credit card (takes me minutes every week/10days) and then this total indicates if I'm going to go over my monthly credit card allowance. The software is set up so that it's fast to use, fairly automated and offers budgeting and tracking options. I do the basic reconciliation with my banks and enjoy the confidence of no sudden dramas of big bills or unexpected debt.

Odd
Anal
Maybe

I can live with that because the consequence has meant my standard of living has been good because I manage my money well

I did ask the question upthread, and noone really answered it, so I will ask it again.

If the driver behind this penny pinching is a fear of not having enough money (which is valid enough) why not pour the not inconsiderable energy that is currently being wasted in this pointless faff into other things that might raise extra money and, along the way, broaden horizons, make life richer and more rewarding?

Learn a new language? Take a course? Go for a promotion at work? Start a degree? Make that craft hobby a business?

Before anyone says they don't have enough time, if you can find time to tick off receipts against a bank statement every month, you have the time.

It really upsets me to think of people hunched over their ledgers when life has so much more to offer.

I'd lose the will to live if I had to do this over every shampoo and cup of cappuccino. LTB

Not OCD, but OCPD:

www.lightshouse.org/things-people-with-ocpd-say.html#axzz2jteblHAQ

Does your DH ever say these kinds of things, OP? I've diagnosed my PILs and DH with OCPD (PILs do the receipt thing, too, it's insane).

I don't know anyone who goes through all their receipts and logs all their transactions. We pay all our bills by direct debit and the same amount goes out every month. I check our bank account every couple of days to make sure that there is enough money. If there isn't we cut down on spending and/or I transfer some money from our savings account. I can't see why anyone needs to do more than that.

I appreciate that some people might enjoy going through all their receipts and logging their spending but if it's not your idea of fun, it's a complete waste of time.

We do this. We log every receipt and write down every time we take cash out, transfer money, etc. Anal maybe but we're the only people I know that save a decent amount every month. Too many people have no idea where their money goes and I think that's scary.

We used Microsoft money for a while. I think my dh got bored of it and stopped.

The world did indeed keep turning

Every credit card transaction is logged on MS Money. All the DDs with their payment dates get automatically entered so I can see what is going where over various accounts. Takes minutes to do and we can see where we have spent more than usual (usually booze related!)