20 Years Of Tracked Spending And How It Helps Me Plan For The Future

[S class]

We do have an investment fund and cash which is providing us with income until then but I'll double check with Mrs C and the accountant that we are using up all available tax credits or any other areas that might improve the bottom line

You can't make use of your earned income credits if all your income is from investments.

This loss of credits might not be relevant in the future.

When you eventually begin your estimated earned income from your state pensions and ARFs or Annuities, you will likely pay no income tax on these.

At present, personal, earned income and age credits are 8,490 euro.

Earnings up to 42,450 euro are effectively income tax free.

 

[Cervelo]

Heating - it went up in 2023/energy crisis, but you got the gas and electric right back down again in 2024, how did you do this?

Sorry Bronte, just realised I only half answered this question in that post

My gas usage fell a good bit compared to the previous year, 16175Kwh in '23 to 12723Kwh in '24
I'm guessing this is because of a few factors
1: With the cheap EV rate between 2am and 5am we used the immersion to heat our water
2: In October 23 we started to light a fire in the evenings so I'm presuming this meant the heating wasn't on as much when the fire was lit
3: I've a feeling it was a mild winter and as we only heat the house to 18 degrees over all the heating wasn't on as much
4: We also had a couple of rate reductions during the year if I remember correctly

But even though I saved €917 on the gas bill, in the food shopping is probably €500 for the Willow warms or Flamers that we bought in Dunnes
I'm thinking for this year I separate out that cost into it's own column to give a truer figure for me as to my energy bills

 

[Cervelo]

Fair play to anyone who wants to log every euro they spend. I know what I spend in my head. I know what and how much I have in our bank accounts and investments in my head.
Anymore detail would drive me mad.

I'm very much the same, even though I track my spending I'm not analysing it on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis
Like you I know in my head roughly where I am at with my spending, you get used to the numbers especially with the essential spending
and I'm sure most people of a certain age are like this, in that they just know from habits what roughly their day to day spending is

The only figure I really pay attention to is the yearly one and once that's within certain parameters I generally don't look further
With regard to the bank account that gets checked regularly not so much to check the balance but rather to see if I've missed some expenditure and to check that money hasn't been taken from the account without my knowledge
Our investments would be checked more regularly as we are just passengers on that rollercoaster and sometimes you need to make adjustments

But when I started to assemble the 20 year spreadsheet I found it very interesting in the how, where and when of the spending
and how some things have fallen in price and other things risen and where the future pinch points might be, for example Bronte's question

Holidays - can't see that low being the norm for many

When I compare the cost of the type of holidays we like to do, say an American road trip, they have nearly doubled in cost in between 2011 and 2018 and when researching options for last summer I reckoned they had gone up again by close to 20% or as Bronte indicates it's not getting any cheaper

Some people are lucky in that there is always money in the pocket to meet the bills, for me and the journey I'm on the spreadsheets are an essential requirement not just in making sure I don't overspend but also keeps me grounded in reality

 

[Miracle Girl]

This is a really interesting post. Thank you for the indepth detail, explanations and insights. I will be talking to my Mr Miracle Boy if we can adopt something like this to track what we actually need for our lifestyle and customise!!
I have stepped back in my career and working parttime as I was so fed up with the rat race of work..I would love to leave work altogether, but so afraid to " cut the cord".
I also have a side hustle that I earn a modest income from and I do have a uk private and Irish private pension Plus eligibility for Irish contributory state pension and the UK state pension.( i took full advantage off the NIbackdated opportunity)..
I am now going to look carefully at your data,compare it to our own lifestyle and see what I can do to cut those apron strings!!

Thank you for a fab post..

You should start a blog or go on tiktok with your experiences..you would get a huge following !!

 

[nest egg]

Great post, thanks for taking the time to share your data. I started tracking our expenses during lock-down, and have become totally hooked on it ever since. While I'm a long way from the OP's record, I've amassed 4 full years worth of data at this point, which has allowed me to start to see the trends. While costs vary from month to month, so far, total expenditure has been very stable, year to year.

We're at a very different stage in our lives with a young family, both of us working full time jobs, and all the associated (eye-watering) costs which go with that. The transition to a cash-less society has greatly helped though, everything goes on a card, so nothing gets left out, meaning we have the full picture (warts and all).

All that being said, having the information hasn't changed our spending. What it has done is give us confidence. Despite all the current costs, we know that for every €1 we're spending, €1 is being invested, setting us up for the future. We know that if either of us lost our jobs, exactly how long we could survive for, and what benefit cutting back different expenditure would yield. We know that once the house is repaid, and childcare/education costs are behind us, how much we'll need for our retirement. Knowledge is power, it's been a revelation, and all being well, 16 years from now, I hope I'll have followed in Cervelo's footsteps with my own 20 year summary.