Cutting back on Admin

Murphybear

silverwhistle said:

When I went up to university in the early 70s I did keep a record of everything I spent, but then I'd never had any money to manage before apart from a little PT employment income. Plus I was studying history and thought it might be interesting to look back: 2d packet of polos, A4 paper, pint in union bar etc..

Now I do very little: checking the entries on my credit card and noting how my current account balance is trending to see if action is needed in any way. I do have a rough budget spreadsheet but I rarely update it except for known items like council tax or the energy standing order. No embarassments so far. If my balances were trending downwards I'd be more rigorous! 

Going to University in the early 70s was such fun.  Especially living on a grant.  I went to University in London in 1971, never went back home. 

annielyn

Dizee123 said:

I have kept an A4 book of my expenditure ever since I was 17 and had my first wages.  I also reconcile my bank statements against this - although these days it is more of a case to ensure that I haven't used the wrong card and charged an expense to the wrong account!  This was before computers, and I am sure over the years it has just become a habit.  I also transfer to a spreadsheet once a month and it doesn't take me very long at all.  I like going back in time to analyse information and compare prices (although sometimes the costs years ago make me want to cry when I compare with costs now).

The reason I originally started was that I went overdrawn by a few pounds and received a very stiff letter from my bank inviting me to think about the consequences of spending money I did not have!  At my young age this frightened me enough to never spend more money than I have earned and keeping a record of accounts prevented me from ever going overdrawn again.  My bank also called me in for a discussion on the importance of saving and set me on the path to regular savings.

Another reason I found it useful was that the detailed records allowed me to work out exactly how much I spent every month and year so I could retire early with confidence that I could afford it. 

I still find it useful to log expenditure and if there is a computer malfunction and I lose all my back ups, I will still have the hard copies to prove to HMRC which gifts are over 7 years old and thus not liable to IHT, which gifts are from regular income, not savings etc. etc.

Overkill, but I enjoy doing it
I am sure my children will have a great time shredding or burning all the books when I am dead.....

You sound very similar to me. I used to keep a little notebook when I first started working at my Saturday job at 16 when I was getting the princely sum of £2 a day! It's amazing how much that bought back in the day.

You do make a good point about keeping records for IHT purposes though. We'd like to make gifts to our grandchildren within the annual allowance so I'll need to keep a record of these.

I've always Liked keeping the records too but feel I need to scale this back now. We've spent out working lives saving for retirement so now we need to enjoy it.

Albermarle

annielyn said:

Dizee123 said:

I have kept an A4 book of my expenditure ever since I was 17 and had my first wages.  I also reconcile my bank statements against this - although these days it is more of a case to ensure that I haven't used the wrong card and charged an expense to the wrong account!  This was before computers, and I am sure over the years it has just become a habit.  I also transfer to a spreadsheet once a month and it doesn't take me very long at all.  I like going back in time to analyse information and compare prices (although sometimes the costs years ago make me want to cry when I compare with costs now).

The reason I originally started was that I went overdrawn by a few pounds and received a very stiff letter from my bank inviting me to think about the consequences of spending money I did not have!  At my young age this frightened me enough to never spend more money than I have earned and keeping a record of accounts prevented me from ever going overdrawn again.  My bank also called me in for a discussion on the importance of saving and set me on the path to regular savings.

Another reason I found it useful was that the detailed records allowed me to work out exactly how much I spent every month and year so I could retire early with confidence that I could afford it. 

I still find it useful to log expenditure and if there is a computer malfunction and I lose all my back ups, I will still have the hard copies to prove to HMRC which gifts are over 7 years old and thus not liable to IHT, which gifts are from regular income, not savings etc. etc.

Overkill, but I enjoy doing it
I am sure my children will have a great time shredding or burning all the books when I am dead.....

You sound very similar to me. I used to keep a little notebook when I first started working at my Saturday job at 16 when I was getting the princely sum of £2 a day! It's amazing how much that bought back in the day.

You do make a good point about keeping records for IHT purposes though. We'd like to make gifts to our grandchildren within the annual allowance so I'll need to keep a record of these.

I've always Liked keeping the records too but feel I need to scale this back now. We've spent out working lives saving for retirement so now we need to enjoy it.

Regarding the comment in bold and to go off topic for a moment.

It is a common misunderstanding that you should only give away £3K pa, or that somehow you will incur more IHT.
If you give away more each year and then die within 7 years, then that will be counted back into your estate. However at worst you are only back at square one. If you live 7 years then those gifts are out of your estate for IHT.

Of course none if this is relevant if your estate will not be big enough to pay IHT anyway.

Apologies if you know all this already, but we see huge misunderstanding about gifts and IHT in other MSE forums. 

Newly_retired

I used to keep careful records when money was tight, but as I can meet my financial obligations I can afford to spend a bit. I have always been a saver rather than a spender, so it doesn't come naturally to treat myself.  I check my current account online most days and move money across from savings if needed. I always check my credit card statement. Apart from that I don't keep any records of spending.
Glad you have reached a decision which makes you feel freer.

Judytoo

I keep my records on an iPad so use their Numbers rather Excel. Excel is a much more comprehensive system,  so I am also going to using a notebook and calculator, to separate out what is day to day and what should come from savings. 
We are at the point where we have some DB pension income, some DC income from a very small pension we have cashed in in full, and also a much bigger lump sum which we will live off for the next few years. We get more DB two years before state pension. We have plenty of savings in ISAs and PBs and when we get state pension income at 67 we will have more than we have ever had before.
We also stand to inherit well when the time comes. 

At present any spare money goes into savings and we don’t need more savings, so I need the notebook and pen to make sure we spend all I have allocated to be spent over the year. 

I really enjoy keeping the records and planning what to do next with the money so do see it as a bit of a hobby. This may change when we have state pensions and have inherited but for now it is necessary to make sure we don’t accrue any more.

So only give up record keeping if you find it boring and annoying.