Spending Diary's and Thoughts

     Every frugal writer that has attracted a lot of followers seems to carefully track their spending on a daily basis or did so in their early years of exploring thrift. I've tried off an on, at least in certain categories to do so as much out of curiosity and to give myself spending challenges than out of  a strong desire to know where every penny is going. That's not to say that in our early days of our marriage where collectively  we made less than $35,000 a year, and as first child one then two came along, the expenses went up at a much faster rate than our earnings. Now on the opposite side of the spectrum of life, we start thinking more and more about retirement needs. Whether that be 7-8 months for DH if we can figure that out, or 3 and 1/2 years, and then my own planned for 8 years from now, the questions about where are we spending out money day to day is popping into my head again. 

     Life in a pandemic has changed how I think about spending money. I alternate between wanting to keep our precious funds for when the rainy days become monsoons, and treating ourselves to help ease the stress. The other night out with friends for a walk, a few beers,and a couple appetizers, I didn't think about money when I decided I would pay the tab. One friend had a husband layed off for a year without work, and even now that they are back working, her stress and anxiety  is high. Another has two kids in college and her hours were slashed drastically. We have not had the financial hit as bad as I had anticipated- DH's earnings are much lower than last year, but not so far off a five year average, and that reduction has been off set with reductions in other areas like wear and tear on the car and gas. So far, DS has been managing between savings, unemployment, so far  through the year without help, but could change in the next 6-8 weeks. Though honestly, this has gone on longer than I thought as well with no telling how long it might be. Anyway, it seemed cleaner and easier to pay the bill through my card, plus it was my first night out with friends, not counting just walk meet-ups, and even that has been over 6 weeks. Yet, I buy the Target brand of  oil free SPF15 moisturizer instead of Neutregena, saving 1/2 the cost. It was not thrifty; I ignored mentioning it on last Thursdays post. 

Admittedly, while we are not wealthy, we have a higher than average household income for our state. We own our home and other than putting money into retirement and paying for our daughters college, we do not have debt. It might come across as disingenuis to track  minor spending and writing aobut it. But retiring earlier than 67 scares us both, mainly due to the cost of insurance. I would be able to keep paying for my insurance through retirement, but it will be expensive-likely close to $20,000 a year. Then there would be the plans for a donut policy to cover holes with Medicare, inflation, and out of pocket costs, I think we must plan on at least $24,000, or $2,000 a month just to keep insurance post retirement. When I try and keep our monthly living expenses low, this is my chief motivator. I want us to be used to a thrift lifestyle, while still being able to travel, share in  family celebrations, give gifts to loved one's and occasionally pick up the darn check. 

     I could be more exacting in documenting where we spend and include in a weekly post. If I would, I'm leaning towards things that would be either part of basic living, like utilities, groceries, cleaning and personal hygiene, car gas and maintenance and the optional spending on entertainment, clothing and miscellaneous walking around spending. I'd likely leave off things like daughters tuition, or any monetary support to family or charitable, Christmas spending, and our long term retirement because those are things that would vary so much depending on personal beliefs, stages in life, and household incomes. It would be hard to have apple to apple comparison or conversations about those categories as we are all so different.

     I had left my piggy bank behind since March when this crisis began, but maybe he can join the blog in a different way. My question to you good readers, would a sort of spending log be of any interest to you? Does seeing tally's in certain categories help or annoy you when you read blogs? I think I'm going to give this a go at least for August and September for myself. If you all want to see it as well, on a weekly basis, let me know.