I Love Quicken
I've decided Quicken is just great. I know it's not the most practical application when trying to run a business (or 2) but with a little bit of excel assistance it makes life so much easier. I cannot imagine how they did all the number crunching back in the day. Maybe they didn't? Maybe the IRS invented the calculator so people could not screw up on their taxes?
I am very happy with my budgeting efforts for the year. I decided to do my mid year comparison to last year's mid point a few weeks early because, well, I guess because it's a slow day. Hooray! I have to separate everything between business and personal and then of course I have to throw out a few categories (like taxes). The best result for me personally is that my overall spending is down 39% from the same time last year. The main categories that I've managed to slim down are clothing, dining, gifts given, home remodel (this one is huge as without it it's only a 29% decline) and personal. Some items like travel, dry cleaning, and insurance have seen some gains. Ah well.
Work is another issue entirely. Expenses are up a 41% but this is only about 1% above the budget goal for the year so it's not too bad. Yet. It's a little bit skewed as now I have a flat monthly fee whereas before I had the commission issue which was never really accounted. I guess if I take out that little factor then overall spending is really up only 20%. I would love to keep spending down a bit more but I'm not 100% sure how to do that and grow my business. I guess it's just one of those things.
Overall, I'm pleased and I can tell because...I'm spending more!! We are eating out waaay too much so hopefully this analysis will re-motivate me to tighten up a little bit and get things under control. My now 9lb weight gain is confirming this as well. I can tell when I fell a little spend happy. This is the best time to keep at it so that the end of the year, when things slow a bit, I won't even notice. Excellent.
For non poker players here's an analysis on my poker endeavors. I am following a set plan laid out by a professional poker player. I'll compare it to running. Each week I have to run a minimum 10 laps (play 10 poker tournaments). I start out very slow with just a fast walk initially and this is at Level 1. I have to win a medal, either gold, silver, or bronze in 5 of the 10 laps that I run. If I succeed in winning my 5 medals I get to advance to the next level which is slightly more difficult than the previous level (the poker buyiin is higher so the players are better). I had been stuck on Level 2 for a good 9 weeks and it was enough to make me cry. I realized at the start of week 8 that I had been running in laps with hurdles, which is a non-requirement and way more difficult, and I think that had contributed to the 9 week agony. This past week I ran 11 laps and placed gold 5 laps, bronze 2 laps, and had no placements for 4 laps. I ran 11 laps since I had already won my required medals and I needed some more stamina for the ensuing rounds. Which I'm scared of. Wish me luck :-). The ultimate goal is to run a marathon that only 36 runners are allowed to compete in. Hmm.....the odds are tiny at this rate but it's a nice hobby to have.
I am very happy with my budgeting efforts for the year. I decided to do my mid year comparison to last year's mid point a few weeks early because, well, I guess because it's a slow day. Hooray! I have to separate everything between business and personal and then of course I have to throw out a few categories (like taxes). The best result for me personally is that my overall spending is down 39% from the same time last year. The main categories that I've managed to slim down are clothing, dining, gifts given, home remodel (this one is huge as without it it's only a 29% decline) and personal. Some items like travel, dry cleaning, and insurance have seen some gains. Ah well.
Work is another issue entirely. Expenses are up a 41% but this is only about 1% above the budget goal for the year so it's not too bad. Yet. It's a little bit skewed as now I have a flat monthly fee whereas before I had the commission issue which was never really accounted. I guess if I take out that little factor then overall spending is really up only 20%. I would love to keep spending down a bit more but I'm not 100% sure how to do that and grow my business. I guess it's just one of those things.
Overall, I'm pleased and I can tell because...I'm spending more!! We are eating out waaay too much so hopefully this analysis will re-motivate me to tighten up a little bit and get things under control. My now 9lb weight gain is confirming this as well. I can tell when I fell a little spend happy. This is the best time to keep at it so that the end of the year, when things slow a bit, I won't even notice. Excellent.
For non poker players here's an analysis on my poker endeavors. I am following a set plan laid out by a professional poker player. I'll compare it to running. Each week I have to run a minimum 10 laps (play 10 poker tournaments). I start out very slow with just a fast walk initially and this is at Level 1. I have to win a medal, either gold, silver, or bronze in 5 of the 10 laps that I run. If I succeed in winning my 5 medals I get to advance to the next level which is slightly more difficult than the previous level (the poker buyiin is higher so the players are better). I had been stuck on Level 2 for a good 9 weeks and it was enough to make me cry. I realized at the start of week 8 that I had been running in laps with hurdles, which is a non-requirement and way more difficult, and I think that had contributed to the 9 week agony. This past week I ran 11 laps and placed gold 5 laps, bronze 2 laps, and had no placements for 4 laps. I ran 11 laps since I had already won my required medals and I needed some more stamina for the ensuing rounds. Which I'm scared of. Wish me luck :-). The ultimate goal is to run a marathon that only 36 runners are allowed to compete in. Hmm.....the odds are tiny at this rate but it's a nice hobby to have.
posted by bobette @ 4:34 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:40 PM ,
Megan said...
A post! I love new posts!!
The running analogy really helps me - thank you. You should put your poker stats in the sidebar of your blog so we can all play along and support you!
Good job on the spending cuts in your personal budget! It seems I recall you saying that you are about to hit your income/sales number from last year (Jan 05 - Dec 05) for this year (Jan 06 - present). So logically, this means your spending increase is covered by the return on investment. I don't know - I'm out of my depth here, but it seems like it would be a good thing to me.
At 6:59 PM ,
Rachele said...
that is a fantastic result on your overall personal spending. Ours is more this year but last year was The Iron Fist. For your work expenses, the 41% figure is meaningless as far as I am concerned. The 20% figure is the one that means something. That flat fee is basically your money to the house, just like your commission percentage was. It's just a question of if it's a rake (comission percentage) or a table time charge like in California (flat fee).
I can make anything into a poker analogy!
I have found myself being very spendy lately as well. Today I walked into Target to buy a hot plate. I walked out having spent $50 and no hot plate. This includes a "refresher pamper set" from Boots for this weekend in Frisco -- has shower gel and other items. Then there was the Boots exfoliating scrub, some fertility stuff, an extension cord, and some small tumbler glasses. Nothing too frivolous per se -- I will use all of it -- but not really sure how that $50 escaped me.
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