Do you know where your money goes?

March 1, 2008 in Other Stuff with Comments Off

As part of our home budgeting process, Emily and I have tracked every dime we’ve spent since we’ve been married. This afternoon, I took some time to review some home financial reports over the last few years to identify trends. Here were a few interesting ones.

Auto Fuel

  • 2005 = $2,084
  • 2006 = $2,948
  • 2007 = $4,084

Do you think the Morgan family is concerned about rising gas prices?


Gifts

  • 2005 = $1,446
  • 2006 = $1,342
  • 2007 = $1,232

It appears that we don’t like our friends and our kids as much, doesn’t it?


Groceries

  • 2005 = $4,948
  • 2006 = $6,407
  • 2007 = $7,452 (btw… $7,458 is the avg for families of 5 or more)

This is what happens when you have four kids, and they begin eating like adults.


Golf Expenses

  • 2005 = $1,089
  • 2006 = $1,181
  • 2007 = $442

No golf trip in 2007. And, I played a lot less. Now that Jacob has his own clubs, I’ll need to fix that.

In case you’re wondering, Emily and I track our expenses for several reasons. First of all, it allows us to prioritize giving and saving. Secondly, it helps us make sure our income exceeds our outflow, and that keeps the Morgan family in the black. Finally, it helps us make decisions about our future. Since we know exactly how much we have spent, we can make wiser choices about potential purchases.

No Responses to “Do you know where your money goes?”

  1. Travis Thompson March 1, 2008 at 8:38 pm #

    We don’t track ours like that, but seeing your numbers make me wonder where our money goes exactly . . . thanks for the “cents”piration (couldn’t resist it)

  2. Scott March 1, 2008 at 9:25 pm #

    thanks for this post. it’s interesting to see how other folks spend their money. i’m going to bring this up with my wife and see if she’d like to start doing something like this.

  3. Chris March 1, 2008 at 9:32 pm #

    Tony – can you (if you haven’t already) do a quick post on how you keep track of your spending?

  4. Jesse J. Anderson March 2, 2008 at 1:41 am #

    Just out of curiosity… what program do you use to track all of this?

    I’m actually currently in the process of tracking back to try and track all finances since the start of my marriage (Sep 2007). Haven’t been able to settle on a financial app that I like yet.

    Unfortunately, I can’t stand Quicken.

  5. Daniel Roberts March 2, 2008 at 10:31 am #

    Chris, you beat me to it. I’m getting married in October, and I’ve been wondering how to do it with 2 people. My life is VERY simple now, so I can literally track it all in my head. I have a feeling that it’s about to get more complex though, and would like a good method for tracking it.

  6. Joseph Sangl March 2, 2008 at 3:10 pm #

    Of course I know where my money goes!

    AND it makes me VOTE every single time I get the opportunity!

  7. jane March 2, 2008 at 9:30 pm #

    you move to one of THE golf states, and you reduce your golf time?!? Or is it no trip needed since you live in the land of golfing year round?

  8. Laura March 2, 2008 at 11:16 pm #

    I do know where every penny goes, thanks to a man named Dave Ramsey.