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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Two Things

I check the responses from the survey on frugal indulgences from time to time. It's really fun reading what everyone does to treat themselves. And I tend to agree on just having time to do as I please as quite a luxury. I'm not sure that I always use those moments of time wisely, though. The mindfulness aspect is something that I need to work on. If you haven't answered the survey, it's quick and easy, and you won't be judged, graded, or even known by your answers. And if you've answered it once but have thought of something you'd like to add, you can do the survey again, adding answers to specific sections. You can see others's responses at the end, if you're interested. Or, you can wait until I compile it all into a post.

On the other topic, you can sometimes teach an old dog a new trick. I've started keeping our monthly budgets on an electronic spreadsheet, with Apple Numbers, the free spreadsheet program that came with my computer. I just began this at the end of April, so we will see how this works out. It was free, and I'm just trying it out for 3 months. If I like it, I'll stick with it. If I feel it's either more work, or not as accurate because I forget to add expenses, then I can always go back to my trusty pad of paper. I dislike the idea of spending any money to track my money, if I can find an easy way to do it for free.

That's about it for today. I hope that your week is off to a great start!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Lili,
    I use the spreadsheet and I love it. Months are the column heading and the rows are all the places I spend money--things like: gas, electric, internet,tuition, tithing, home insurance, car insurance, renewal and tabs, groceries, medical/dental/health, garbage, property taxes, maintenance and so on. I actually just print a blank one and using a pencil I fill in each box where a row and column meet. Sometimes I have more than one entry for the same box but I squeeze it in. After a while, I enter it all into my computer. I make sure that the rows add everything up at the end of the year as well as the column set to add a total. For me this is only capturing the spending part. I don't add in any income. Once everything is final for the year and it's tax time, I have a nice spreadsheet for itemizing if necessary and it serves as a summary so I don't forget anything when filing taxes. In one spreadsheet there are multiple tabs so I can use the same spreadsheet year after year just adding a new tab. I love how it works.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      I'm doing all of the work on the computer, for now. I pay almost all of our bills online so I can transfer data immediately after paying. But there is still that possibility that I will forget to enter something. What I like about doing this online is that I can transfer one month's page of categories to new pages, which saves some copying time. The real downside is that if my computer dies, I have no paper copy. I should begin storing info on a thumb drive, then at least I'd have it backed up. One new trick at a time, I think.
      Thanks for your input, Alice. Have a great day!

      Delete
  2. Indeed, "time" (and the freedom that it represents) is a luxury, and for me, has always been more valuable and cherished than "money". We made our decision to retire early because we decided this to be true. We chose having "more time" than "more money". Money plays a role, but it is the means and not the end (for us anyway). Frugality is a means too. It is working for ourselves, intentional doing, in place of paid labor. We only need the amount of money to pay for work we cannot do ourselves, don't want to, or because of our lack of skills and tools would take too much time. Ok....just rattling again.

    Have a nice day!!

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know what you mean about not always using free time mindfully because I worry about that. But for me, I think I need to relax more and not worry about whether I am relaxing properly. I truly think we all need down time with no goals--just being, or looking at the sky, or reading a fun book, etc. But that's hard to do when we are busy trying to accomplish a lot in a small amount of time even if it is on a fun activity like crafting. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I do know that personally, I need to stop having a running list of what needs to be done going on in my head all of the time.

    ReplyDelete

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