My financial diary......
Aug. 26th, 2004 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1This past week, I consolidated and organized some of my financial records from the past couple of years: receipts, pay stubs, monthly bank and credit card statements, utility bills, etc. (My tax records are stored and filed separately.)
I found that the best boxes to store these records in are #10 envelope boxes with lids. The 9" wide archival-quality check boxes are too narrow by about a half an inch. I keep receipts in #10 envelopes, broken out by month, and by food/non-food. Statements mailed to me are in their original envelopes, but consolidated into 6-month or 3-month groupings.
Until recently, my record-keeping was more elaborate. I'd keep track of everything, even cash purchases, down to the penny, using Quicken or Qmate (on the Palm). I could get great reports of where my money went. And sometimes it was a great pain to enter the expenses into Quicken from handwritten notes, especially if I fell behind a few weeks or months.
I started doing this as a requirement for a merit badge in Boy Scouts: the requirement was keep track of my expenses for a 90-day period. After the 90 days was over, I continuted to keep track. It was originally kept in handwritten ledger books, and soon started keeping track in Quicken.
It may seem obsessive-compulsive of me to do this, but as I look back on my expense record, it reminds me where I was on a given day. In a way, it's become a diary. I can see my trips to various restaurants, stores, events, and vacations as I look over the day-to-day expense reports.
Now, I know that the IRS really doesn't care where I spend my money, unless it's toward medical expenses or charitable organizations. They don't care that I spent $4.26 for lunch at Burger King on June 16, 2002, or $10 for gas at BP later that day. But I still think it's nice-to-know. I know they care where my money comes from, so they can get their cut.
And I realize that I shouldn't hang on to these records forever, so my goal is to purge the financial records if they're over 5 years old. I should go through and shred any records up to and including 1998, and next year, work on doing the same for 1999. (Anything important, like receipts for major purchases of durable goods, or bank statements, would be either scanned or retained.)
I realize I'm way behind on the data entry, so I may dispense with keeping track of cash expenses in Quicken, and focus on the credit cards, savings accounts, checking accounts, and my 401(k) accounts. Since I use my debit card often, and can download a .QIF file from my bank's website and import it into Quicken, I can let the machines do most of the work for me. I'd still have to add the payee for each check, though.
I found that the best boxes to store these records in are #10 envelope boxes with lids. The 9" wide archival-quality check boxes are too narrow by about a half an inch. I keep receipts in #10 envelopes, broken out by month, and by food/non-food. Statements mailed to me are in their original envelopes, but consolidated into 6-month or 3-month groupings.
Until recently, my record-keeping was more elaborate. I'd keep track of everything, even cash purchases, down to the penny, using Quicken or Qmate (on the Palm). I could get great reports of where my money went. And sometimes it was a great pain to enter the expenses into Quicken from handwritten notes, especially if I fell behind a few weeks or months.
I started doing this as a requirement for a merit badge in Boy Scouts: the requirement was keep track of my expenses for a 90-day period. After the 90 days was over, I continuted to keep track. It was originally kept in handwritten ledger books, and soon started keeping track in Quicken.
It may seem obsessive-compulsive of me to do this, but as I look back on my expense record, it reminds me where I was on a given day. In a way, it's become a diary. I can see my trips to various restaurants, stores, events, and vacations as I look over the day-to-day expense reports.
Now, I know that the IRS really doesn't care where I spend my money, unless it's toward medical expenses or charitable organizations. They don't care that I spent $4.26 for lunch at Burger King on June 16, 2002, or $10 for gas at BP later that day. But I still think it's nice-to-know. I know they care where my money comes from, so they can get their cut.
And I realize that I shouldn't hang on to these records forever, so my goal is to purge the financial records if they're over 5 years old. I should go through and shred any records up to and including 1998, and next year, work on doing the same for 1999. (Anything important, like receipts for major purchases of durable goods, or bank statements, would be either scanned or retained.)
I realize I'm way behind on the data entry, so I may dispense with keeping track of cash expenses in Quicken, and focus on the credit cards, savings accounts, checking accounts, and my 401(k) accounts. Since I use my debit card often, and can download a .QIF file from my bank's website and import it into Quicken, I can let the machines do most of the work for me. I'd still have to add the payee for each check, though.
