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.

 

[Cervelo]

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 !!

Thanks Miracle Girl,
I know I probably make it sound like it was an easy decision to pack it all in but it wasn't, there were a few years of an absolute head wreck as I agonised over the decision to continue my life as is, getting unhappier each year with my situation or do I make the leap into the unknown

And it really came down to this one train of thought, what will I regret about my life when I look back upon it

I knew from tracking my spending over the previous years that no mater what, I had all the essential needs covered which was key in my mind
So I said to myself give it a year and see where it goes, a year turned into 2 then 3.....
Now it wasn't an easy transition, it took about 5 years before I fully got my ducks in a row and felt totally at ease with the decision and my life
but never once then or over the last 7 years have I regrated making that decision

With regards to the blog or social media, that's not for me, I don't do Facebook, Insta or TicTok but for some reason I feel very comfortable here

I think credit has to be given to Mr BB for starting this site but it wouldn't be anything without the community of posters that live here
We have a mixture of wealthy, not so wealthy, high brow and low brow posters and apart from a gentle "ribbing" every now and again the advise and opinions given by other posters on a wide range of subjects is of the highest quality and deserves to be acknowledged as such

 

[Ceist Beag]

Fair play Cervelo, fantastic and really useful insight. I have been doing something different for about 15 years now where I have been itemising our planned income and expenditure at a high level and tweaking it over the years to take into account changes but I never tracked it to such detail. My approach was more of a budgeting exercise than a recording and data analysis one. As nest egg said, the real benefit in doing either approach is the confidence it gives you over your spending. You know if you can afford something, you know how any savings plans should look in say 5 or 10 years time and you know how you could cope if you were ever unemployed for a period of time. It removes so much stress having this information, really it's something every household would benefit from.

 

[misemoi]

I think if most people started with a budget, then the actuals would be intuitive and not seem like a lot of work. If you have enough you are less likely to track as you won't have cash flow pinches. But equally you won't see wastage! So if anyone is hesitant about starting on actuals, start on budget first and understand the gaps.

Watching how into people can get on solar and electricity use, the same fascination could apply to tracking expenses once people get started.

 

[Cervelo]

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.

Your very welcome nest egg,
Tracking my spending came about after a business conversation I have with my father one day many years ago and he said this
"The money is not made on the road (sales) but on the production floor (costs)"
Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the box and sometimes I can't see the trees for the woods and vice versa
But when he dropped the nominal leger in my lap and said "it's time for you to understand where the real money is made"
That was it, It was my lightbulb moment and it changed how I see or view a lot of things

How did it help me, well I reversed engineered that thinking into my life, my salary became my turnover and my spending became my costs and every year I had to balance the books and make a profit(savings). And although I've given a 20 year spreadsheet of my spending and it's interesting to look at and decipher the only years that are really relevant are the current and the last which is the same as audit accounts

 

[Cervelo]

My approach was more of a budgeting exercise than a recording and data analysis one.

Cheers Ceist Beag,

Yes that's very much how I used to do it myself, start each year with a monthly budget multiply it by 12 and if it matched the salary, bingo
But unfortunately life isn't linear, it's very much a squiggle and budgeting although important is second to tracking

Nest egg said above "Knowledge is power" which is very true but knowledge is nothing without wisdom

 

[LS400]

Just to echo previous posters comments, fantastic and quite a riveting post there Cervelo,

My reading of your posts is a-kin to a really good book and not wanting it to end.

I'm in the camp of KOW's post (16) nailed it to a T.

Have hit 60, and want out, but have stressed about the decent salary coming to and end.

Wife is of the opinion, and I know she's right , doesn't want to leave a bundle to the tax man after kids receive the threshold inheritance amount.
But, having worked day and night to get where we are, and accumulate what we have, jumping off the ship and spending it whilst not being replenished goes against the grain and has been filling me with dread, trust me, we``ve had a few ding dongs in the LS house hold over it. Found it easier to deal with giving up a 20 a day habit than thoughts of coming off the regular pay scale.

Reading about your experience has tbh cleared considerable brain fog. Fair play to you.

 

[Monbretia]

I've tracked my spending for 40+ years, think I started in 1983, anyways just used basic yearly diaries (page a day ones) and wrote in everything, never switched to spreadsheet or similar when that became possible, in the habit of the diaries now. I have a collection of them in the top of the wardrobe, can't bring myself to throw them out! Knowledge is definitely power, you need to know where the money is going to manage any sort of control over it.

 

[Roro999]

Just use a page a month.
Write in amounts on a daily basis under following headings assuming no mortgage or car loans:
Food / Household costs
Clothing / Footwear
Holidays
Heating / Fuel
Dining out
Petrol
Car repairs
Doctor/ Meds / Dentist
Phone /Broadband
Car tax / car insurance/ house insurance
Life Insurances
Property tax
Charity
Health Insurance
Refuse
Sundry (for everything else) but keep a written note of each sundry expense

 

[Cervelo]

Just to echo previous posters comments, fantastic and quite a riveting post there Cervelo,

My reading of your posts is a-kin to a really good book and not wanting it to end.

I'm in the camp of KOW's post (16) nailed it to a T.

Have hit 60, and want out, but have stressed about the decent salary coming to and end.

Wife is of the opinion, and I know she's right , doesn't want to leave a bundle to the tax man after kids receive the threshold inheritance amount.
But, having worked day and night to get where we are, and accumulate what we have, jumping off the ship and spending it whilst not being replenished goes against the grain and has been filling me with dread, trust me, we``ve had a few ding dongs in the LS house hold over it. Found it easier to deal with giving up a 20 a day habit than thoughts of coming off the regular pay scale.

Reading about your experience has tbh cleared considerable brain fog. Fair play to you.

Thanks LS400,
I glad to hear that you getting something from my posts and would agree, I'm hoping/praying that there are many more chapters in this story

I totally get the whole accumulation/decumulation anxiety thing, I went through it as well and still do on a certain level, it doesn't disappear totally.
But for the vast majority of people here including myself you just have to trust yourself that you've got the numbers right and then go with the flow what ever may happen

I think a lot of people forget that retirement is not just about giving up work, it's a change in lifestyle as well and with that has to come a change in how you think about things and interact with that changing, I often think of my retirement through the eyes of a 10 year old me on a never ending summer holiday from school and I'm having just as much fun now as I did back then

 

[Cervelo]

I've tracked my spending for 40+ years, think I started in 1983, anyways just used basic yearly diaries (page a day ones) and wrote in everything, never switched to spreadsheet or similar when that became possible, in the habit of the diaries now. I have a collection of them in the top of the wardrobe, can't bring myself to throw them out! Knowledge is definitely power, you need to know where the money is going to manage any sort of control over it.

Yes I was kind of the same except mine are all in 3 A5 Filofax's but a few years ago I borrowed a shredder and shredded lots of financial stuff from statements to receipts etc etc and when I was compiling the 20 year spreadsheet during the summer there was more than one occasion where I regretted that decision

 

[Monbretia]

Yes I was kind of the same except mine are all in 3 A5 Filofax's but a few years ago I borrowed a shredder and shredded lots of financial stuff from statements to receipts etc etc and when I was compiling the 20 year spreadsheet during the summer there was more than one occasion where I regretted that decision

I know! I hate throwing away records of any sort, I moved into this house in 1991 and have every gas and electricity bill since then, well until the esb ones went online at least! Gas is bulk tank so still comes as a physical invoice.

 

[Firefly]

I often think of my retirement through the eyes of a 10 year old me on a never ending summer holiday from school and I'm having just as much fun now as I did back then

My father echoes this. His biggest regret is that he didn't retire sooner.

 

[jimmij]

My father echoes this. His biggest regret is that he didn't retire sooner.

Richard Nixon begs to differ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPAesqaJ9tc

 

[Monbretia]

"The money is not made on the road (sales) but on the production floor (costs)"

This saying is not a million miles from what my father used to say, he was in the catering business and maintained the profit was made from controlling waste and not just sales. One time we hired a new chef, unfortunately a comment we heard too late about him was the bin lorry will have to call twice! Noted for his wasteful ways, no money in that!

 

[Truffade]

I think the overriding thing I take from your posts is that you are in control - (1) you understand your finances deeply, (2) you know what you want out of life and you are able to marry the two together harmoniously.

Strange as it may seem, most people are not in that position. Most people never analyse their finances in detail (or if they do, they tend to be focused on the present and don't project out for decades) and most people don't really audit their lives and lifestyles.

Inspiring to see the benefits that can flow from simply being in control of both things!