Didn't realise I'd spent that much.

Vinknut

Money_and_Travel said:

Nasqueron said:

Your original post seemed to suggest you were concerned by the level of spend?

No, just surprised at how much I had spent.

Why were you surprised, do you not track your spending at all?

DullGreyGuy

Vinknut said:

Money_and_Travel said:

Nasqueron said:

Your original post seemed to suggest you were concerned by the level of spend?

No, just surprised at how much I had spent.

Why were you surprised, do you not track your spending at all?

Someone can track their weekly or monthly spend but not then look at the annual or longer term numbers. A colleague was commenting that he goes to a little coffee shop near the office for his 2 a day hit saying how much cheaper it was than going to Costa etc at £1.50 -v- the c£4.50.

Clearly they are aware of the unit price of their spend but had failed to realise it was still c£720 a year of net salary going on it as they weren't thinking over that duration. 

steven141

DullGreyGuy said:

Vinknut said:

Money_and_Travel said:

Nasqueron said:

Your original post seemed to suggest you were concerned by the level of spend?

No, just surprised at how much I had spent.

Why were you surprised, do you not track your spending at all?

Someone can track their weekly or monthly spend but not then look at the annual or longer term numbers. A colleague was commenting that he goes to a little coffee shop near the office for his 2 a day hit saying how much cheaper it was than going to Costa etc at £1.50 -v- the c£4.50.

Clearly they are aware of the unit price of their spend but had failed to realise it was still c£720 a year of net salary going on it as they weren't thinking over that duration. 

There is nothing wrong with buying things if you can afford it. Plus it keeps people in jobs and is somewhere for someone to go to. Everyone has different things that they spend their free money on.

NoodleDoodleMan

Money_and_Travel said:

Nasqueron said:

Your original post seemed to suggest you were concerned by the level of spend?

No, just surprised at how much I had spent.

It's not rocket science to maintain an ongoing record of credit card spending - especially as your monthly/annual payments are relatively low.

I have an A5 ring binder with pre-printed pages to keep account.

Checked against monthly bank statements and then balance settled within the timescale to avoid interest, very straightforward. 

Jami74

Years ago I read a thread about how much people spent at Christmas and I was absolutely shocked at the amounts. So that year I logged every single Christmas spend I made and was absolutely shocked how much I spent at Christmas. And that was the beginning of my budgeting and logging.

JES_F1

When I finally faced up to being in a financial mess - see signature - I realised that I was spending a ridiculous amount on 'stuff'.

As an example, I was spending about £50 a month on Costa coffees.  To me, that would be a crazy amount now but is even more crazy given that was 17 years ago!

I now keep a really sharp eye on what I spend.

Money_and_Travel

MattMattMattUK said:

Unneeded purchases, buying things like a coffee every morning that you think does not cost much, but adds up to a significant amount, things like paying for parking regularly when there is free parking 200 meters away, that kind of thing. 

Most of my spending went on things I either needed, or planned on spending.

Things like a holiday, new tyres, MOT and servicing/repairs, renewing my SIA Licence, a dashcam, etc.

NoodleDoodleMan

If these expenditures were essential - how come you are surprised at the amount ?

Money_and_Travel

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If these expenditures were essential - how come you are surprised at the amount ?

Because I didn't realise I'd spent so much.

DullGreyGuy

steven141 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Vinknut said:

Money_and_Travel said:

Nasqueron said:

Your original post seemed to suggest you were concerned by the level of spend?

No, just surprised at how much I had spent.

Why were you surprised, do you not track your spending at all?

Someone can track their weekly or monthly spend but not then look at the annual or longer term numbers. A colleague was commenting that he goes to a little coffee shop near the office for his 2 a day hit saying how much cheaper it was than going to Costa etc at £1.50 -v- the c£4.50.

Clearly they are aware of the unit price of their spend but had failed to realise it was still c£720 a year of net salary going on it as they weren't thinking over that duration. 

There is nothing wrong with buying things if you can afford it. Plus it keeps people in jobs and is somewhere for someone to go to. Everyone has different things that they spend their free money on.

With what I spend on beer, Im not going to be the one criticising anyones spend on drinks. 

Wasnt criticising their spending choices just pointing out someone can have a close handle on the unit price of things and even what they are spending each day/week etc but not necessarily done the next step of looking at an annual basis.  Sure its logical that £1.50 x 2 per day x 5 days per week x 48 weeks a year adds up to what it does but even they were surprised that their good value coffee summed to so much.