What will you measure in 2011?

Asiacat

As any manager worth his salt knows what gets measured gets done and the natural corollery of this is to measure what matters.

For the past seven years I have recorded every last baht (Thai currency) I have spent in A5 diaries but for the next year I'm going to go a little further.

1. I will keep a daily running total of the amount of money I have wasted. Each day I will write out "I have wasted_____ so far this year." For me wastage involves late payment penalties for utility bills, money lost, money stolen from me, food not eaten, books not read within 1 month of purchasing them, petrol on unnecessary journeys.

My aim is to keep this figure at zero throughout the year. I hope to be able to say on 31st December 2011 that I have used cash with perfect efficiency throughout the year,

2. I will measure my savings rate. At the end of each month I will write out "I have received ______so far this year and I have retained_______ so far this year." My aim is to retain 15% of all income received in 2011.

3. I will keep a running total of the amount I have spend on alcohol for the whole year. Each day I will write out "I have spent____so far on alcohol this year. I'm not about to give it up but hopefully can keep it down to an average of under b100 (about 2 pounds) a day. This can be done for any habit you want to eliminate or curb such as cigarettes or gambling.

4. I will keep a daily total of the amount I have spent on impulse purchases throughout the year. I was going to try to keep it to zero making an 'Impulse purchase delay" list and only buy them if I still wanted them 3 days later but some things may not be practical to wait for. E.g things I would have to travel a long way back to buy or second hand items that may not be available in two or three days time.

What will you measure during 2011?

Shoe_Gal

I will be measuring my weight and determined to see it decrease. I like the idea of keeping running totals, which I already do for my total outstanding debt

30andfabulous

Asiacat, think am becoming a fan, was inspired by your other post 'your winning formula for 2011':j

I think keeping a log of money wasted will be a great incentive, to keep an eye on my finances. I would include money spent on lunches at work, magazines, drinks, the odd bar of chocolate also any overspend on food shopping as money wasted.
I think I may even go a step further and issue myself with fines for x10 the amount of money wasted on each occasion and use this toward debt repayment. e.g today I broke my NSDs for a Mcdonalds breakfast which cost £2.99 I will add £29.99 toward a CC bill this month. If this doesn't help curb my unnecessary spending then am a lost cause.:eek:

I do have a list of current debts and amounts and will be updating this quarterly, so I can watch them decrease.

backinbusiness

I will measure the time I spend on these forums!! Not waste you understand but spend. Always pick up some new tip, but really should be doing something else!!