If you like to talk about money

I like money. Most people do. I really like to keep track of how I spend it, and I like to save it even more. This from the person who does not write down her expenses in a checkbook registry.

I'm really excited because since 2010 is over, I get to run my first year end budget report. I know, right? I started tracking everything on an Excel spreadsheet in spring of 2009, but this is the first year that I can make a complete and accurate year end report. I was really good about keeping track of everything in 2010.

What I'm most interested in is finding out my 12 month average for all my spending categories, and how much I spent during the whole year on one category. Also, I get to see how much money I spent during all of 2010, which is a big slap of reality across the cheek. I also discovered how much money I saved throughout the year.

Abe is thuggin' in an origami hat.

 I don't use any sort of fancy program to keep track of everything. Like I said, I made a spreadsheet on Excel that is tailored to my personal budget. I have a spreadsheet for each month of the year (made into tabs) and about once every two weeks I go through my online banking registry and write everything down. I rarely use cash, because having cash is like free money to me, since I can't see it show up later on my online banking. All I know is I took forty bucks out of the ATM on whatever date. Who knows what I spent it on. So I usually pay for everything on my debit card, because it leaves an electronic paper trail.

In case you are interested in learning about my budget categories, I'll tell you. If you're not interested in reading about other people's budgets, you should probably just X off of this post right now and go watch a YouTube video. I'm kind of nosy, so if you posted about this, I'd be interested in reading it. But I understand not everyone is interested in the same things.

Anyway, so my budget categories:

Mortgage. Yes! The joys of pretending to be an adult.

Garbage. I get billed ever other month. This also covers recycling, which I take full advantage of, thank you very much. Plus they pick up my yard debris, which I don't have a lot of, on account of how my yard is about as wide as a bowling lane.

Gas. This isn't gas for my car. It's natural gas that heats my water tank and house. Higher in the winter months, or course.

Electric. Thanks, PGE. Lights. Computer. Hair dryer. TV. Blender. All those things suck up energy.

Water/Sewer. Because even though I live in Oregon where the rain hitting my driveway exceeds my daily water usage, I still have to pay.

Internet. Could we live without it?

Phone. I have a cell phone that I never access internet on. And I'm on the family plan. My mother bills me about every two months.

Insurance. Home owners and car. My health insurance comes straight out of my paycheck, so I ignore that.

Household. This covers things like toilet paper, soap, light bulbs, or more popularly, home decor. Like pillows and bookshelves and beautiful things.

Gym. Got to work on my fitness.

Auto/Gas. Flat tires, dead batteries, hit and runs, fuel, headlights, doorhandles-- everything that can go wrong usually does. Actually, my car is pretty faithful. I like it.

Groceries. Winco, baby. Can't afford to shop at Roth's or Safeway or FredMeyer. Take my own bags to help Mother Earth.

Eating out. I rarely do this because I feel like it's a giant waste of money. I mean, four bucks for a baked potato when they're worth like, twelve cents? I mostly have to keep in mind that I am paying for the atmosphere and company. Otherwise it's totally not worth it.

Personal. This is kind of a broad category, and it covers not only things like haircuts, massages, toothpaste, doctor and dentist visits, oral surgery, cough syrup, and prescriptions, but also apparently Blockbuster movie rentals, according to March 2010.

Clothes. Because nakedness is only attractive on some people.

Retail. Basically this should be renamed the Target category, because that's where most of the money goes. I could divide the receipt up into all the other categories, but I usually don't and it gets lumped into this. Like, if I go to Target and buy toilet paper, a toothbrush, a t-shirt, and something for my classroom, I don't separate it all out. I probably should. Maybe that will be a 2011 goal.

School. This isn't college tuition anymore, it's the money I spend on my classroom. I mostly buy books for my students to read, or other various teaching equipment, like cast iron rulers.

Tithe. God has blessed me immensely. And my church is awesome.

Other. Sometimes things just don't fit anywhere else you know?

Okay, so I was fully planning on telling you some money tips and more about how I track things on my budget, because I really do consider myself fiscally responsible, but this post is getting kind of long and your attention span is getting kind of short. So we'll finish tomorrow. Finance nerds tune in, or you know, if you're an identity thief and you want to get a hold of my credit card number.