{"id":22381,"date":"2010-04-20T04:00:12","date_gmt":"2010-04-20T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=22381"},"modified":"2020-12-12T21:04:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T05:04:53","slug":"why-i-no-longer-track-every-penny-i-spend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/why-i-no-longer-track-every-penny-i-spend\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I no longer track every penny I spend"},"content":{"rendered":"
When I struggled with money<\/a> during the 1990s, I had no clue what I was spending each month. I made my financial decisions based on my checkbook balance: If there were a few bucks left, I’d find ways to spend the money; if my balance was close to zero (as in $10 or $20), I’d turn to my credit cards. Where did this money go? If you’d have asked me, I wouldn’t have known.<\/p>\n As part of my financial turnaround, I learned to track my spending<\/a>. In fact, this was one of the most effective tools in getting me to change my spending habits<\/b>. Every week, I’d sit down at the computer to enter my receipts into Quicken. Once or twice a month, I’d play with the graphs and reports, keeping an eye on the problem spots. By tracking every penny that I earned and spent, I became more aware of my habits.<\/p>\n But something’s happened lately.<\/p>\n Last summer, I noticed that my discipline seemed to be lacking. Instead of logging my spending every week, I’d often go two or >gasp!<<\/i> three weeks without using Quicken. At first, this made me fret. “Something’s wrong with me,” I’d think. “If I don’t track my spending, I’ll lose control.”<\/p>\n You know what? I didn’t<\/i> lose control. Even if I went an entire month without entering my info into Quicken, my spending stayed in check.<\/p>\n Last fall, as I was writing my book, things got even worse. Sometimes I’d go six weeks without remembering to enter data. And then 2010 rolled around. Here’s a shocker: Since doing my year-end numbers in early January, I haven’t logged my spending once.<\/b> And just last week, I stopped saving every little receipt. (It’s been years<\/i> since I tossed out a grocery receipt before coming home.)<\/p>\n Some of you may be alarmed by this. A few years ago, I would have been concerned, too. But I’ve actually found that my scofflaw attitude is liberating. Over the past few months, I’ve seen that I’m perfectly capable of practicing conscious spending<\/a> without logging every penny I spend.<\/p>\n Although I no longer track my spending in detail, that doesn’t mean I’m ignoring my finances entirely. Hardly! I still check my statements every month to be sure there’s nothing goofy. Plus, I double-check to be sure my account balances are continuing to grow. In a way, it’s as if I’ve removed the training wheels and am now zipping around the driveway on only two wheels<\/b>.<\/p>\n This reminds me a little of my return to credit cards. In 1998, I destroyed my credit cards because I couldn’t use them responsibly. For nearly ten years, I lived without a personal credit card. I was afraid to trust myself. But about three years ago, I decided to take a chance. I set some ground rules and signed up for a single card. Since then, I’ve not only used credit responsibly, but have actually learned that it can<\/i> make life more convenient.<\/p>\n So maybe leaving Quicken is the next step. Maybe part of the third stage of personal finance<\/a> is recognizing that my financial discipline has become ingrained, that I no longer need certain redundant systems because the internal systems are working just fine.<\/p>\n Or maybe I’m fooling myself.<\/p>\n I’d love to hear from other GRS readers. How many of you track your spending?<\/b> What’s your financial situation like? Have you found that you’ve “outgrown” Quicken<\/a> and Mint<\/a> and similar tracking programs? Also, I’m dying to know: As my mental relationship with money matures, will I find that I’ve outgrown the need for other<\/i> techniques that helped me get out of debt<\/a>?<\/p>\n