Buster Benson I need more goals.

track everything I spend for a week (read all 3 entries…)
OCD fun times 3 years ago

I’m definitely not a checkbook balancer. So much so, that I identify part of my ego with the fact that I don’t balance my checkbook. Funny how behaviors that we didn’t even necessarily choose eventually become attached to our sense of self. We don’t say “I haven’t seriously balanced my checkbook before” so much as “I’m not a checkbook balancer”. Why and why not? What do I gain, personality-wise, from not balancing my checkbook?

First, I think I assume that I gain “crazy disorganized” points, which, when coupled with other behaviors like not combing my hair and being a drunk, might potentially be triangulated into an identity as a crazy disorganized Einsteinian figure. Is that right? Isn’t it weird the things we do and the reasons we do them?

So, for this week I’m tracking my spending, and despite the possibility of people accidentally mistaking me for NOT being a mad creative genius who just can’t be bothered with everyday tasks like money management, I’m actually enjoying it. It’s fun to give weight to things that previously didn’t have weight. There are so many things that we eventually get used to and stop thinking about. Many of my goals lately have been about rediscovering the weight and complexity and texture of things that I’ve stopped thinking about. My name, what I eat, what I drink, what I spend money on. And I get to exercise my OCD a little… it’s been getting lazy.

You can view my spending by checking out my shared Google spreadsheet.

Sep 14, 2006, 01:45PM PDT


Comments:

stacy

wow buster!

that’s A LOT of detail on that ocd spreadsheet!
everytime i travel i have tracked my spending. it’s how i make sure i stay on budget. not a big deal when i’ve only been traveling for a couple-few weeks. but one trip i was gone for 4 months, and kept it up almost the entire time [somewhere in slovakia i stopped for a bit – i blame it on frostbite and the fact that it was actually hard to spend a lot of money there.]
i’ve kept my tracking categories very simple… i break it down into general categories like food, bed, entertainment, transport, shopping. sometimes, when i’m feeling very specific, i’ll add a crazy category like snacks!
i’ve been watching all of you with this goal, and i’m considering doing it myself. i’ve found it to be a great way to ground myself [financially] and, basically, reel my spending in.

ps…
i haven’t balanced my checkbook since about age 19. i’ve always meant to. i think i consider myself a checkbook balancer that just hasn’t got around to it.

Sep 14, 2006, 03:44PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

Buster Benson I need more goals.

Woah, a snacks category?! You’re crazy.

My spreadsheet is a little weird because about half the time I’m either paying for someone of someone is paying for me. It’s like Christmas all the time in the Co-op. This way I can get in the habit of recording things often, even when I don’t pay.

So Stacy, when you’re traveling, do you keep receipts and figure out exchange rates later? Do you write in a notebook or on a computer (I assume computer)? The added complexity of exchange rates and handling fees and the desire to not worry about money when you’re having fun seem like they would make the task so much more difficult. What kind of budget do you try to keep? N dollars per day?

As I do this I realized that I’m relating some of this money consciousness to my college days. My 4 years of college were spent as a relentless budgeter… basically lived on $700/month (rent was $175) and tried to save $100-$200 of it for summer vacations. My biggest life luxury was allowing myself to buy one used CD per week, that was awesome. I remember wondering with incredulity how people could so nonchalantly buy items like toothpaste and toilet paper, things I didn’t really have room for in my budget since they were irregular. I even went so far as to steal TP from my work.

You should take this up too! It’s more fun as a group… but it makes Credit Card Roulette burn a little more when you lose.

Sep 14, 2006, 04:04PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

stacy

i like to keep it simple

i set myself a daily dollar amount [most trips $50/day]. then i convert that amount to whatever currency/country i’m in, and then i keep track in that currency. so, if i were in the uk – depending on the value of the damn dollar – i could spend about 28#s/day. i also keep track of withdrawals in whatever currency i’m taking out. and, lucky lucky me, one of my banks thinks i work for them, so they don’t charge me any international banking fees. i use that account exclusively for travel.
and i am very analog with all this. i keep track of all of this in my journal in two places. the daily spending goes in the normal “journal” part. then on the last pages of the journal i write down my withdrawals. every week or two i add up all my spending to date and get an average and make sure i’m being good. it’s fun. i swear.

and don’t think you’re the first college kid to steal tp!

Sep 14, 2006, 04:35PM PDT | Respond to this


 

I want to:

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Never stop learning scrapbook more Fly a plane Find someone to love - that loves me, TOO be famous make a new friend learn a second language *Takergirl* wants to Write down 50 of my favorite memories. be comfortable in my skin i want to travel the world go on a cruise write a computer program paint a picture SUBTITLES wants to get married find my biological parents Lose 10 pounds buy a house someday Lose 20 pounds learn how to speak english, with a british accent be a better listener become a Dominatrix See the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame be more compassionate lebomatseke wants to fearlessly live the life I want to live, be who I truly want to be, welcome change, unleash my inner, creative, adventurous, warrior self, and have no apologies for it, whatsoever, to anyone exercise at least 5 times a week watch more movies stop being afraid Have a "Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams" Kiss
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