Where the money went in 2008

[fivemack]

As in the last three of these, "FOREX" is cash taken out and spent while abroad (I lump it all together since I couldn't face reconciling cash receipts in five currencies) and "SLC" is the last payments on the student loan. Clothes are "LIVE", cameras are "ENT"ertainment, for this is how my brain views such things; "ACCOM" covers rent, electricity, gas, insurance, the phone line, and, by mission creep, the initial and contract payments for mobilephones.

Comments

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I'm particularly impressed that in this current climate you managed to divert 15.9% into savings.

[(Anonymous)]

Posting anonymously as I don't like to discuss my financial matters in public. I can't compare my own expenditure exactly with yours as I don't record it the same way (and have a mortgage rather than rent). However, if I strip out accommodation, savings, forex, tax, SLC and charges, the remainder is broadly comparable to a subset of my analysis. If I factor up your remaining items to 100% I think a comparison of you versus me is:

Charity and Gifts - YOU 11% ME 24%
Clothes - YOU 2% ME 3%
Computer - YOU 11% ME 2%
Entertainment - YOU 39% ME 10%
Food - YOU 21% ME 39%
Health - YOU 2% ME 3%
Travel - YOU 10% ME 17%
Miscellaneous - YOU 4% ME 3%

It's interesting how different certain items are.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I'm using 'TRAVEL' basically for tickets; if I go somewhere and stay in a hotel, the hotel counts as ENT. Not sure how sensible this is, because it means there isn't a number in the summary which is "what I spent by going on holiday and wouldn't have if I hadn't", and that's perhaps a more useful number to know.

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

Cor. Mine breaks down into ACCOM somewhere around 60%, TAX somewhere around 25%, and health insurance about another 5%. New York living is teh biznis...

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does seem that New York living is made of pure expense.

I'm very rarely self-employed, so I'm using TAX for the council tax and for what small interactions I have with HMRC, whilst presumably some distressingly large proportion of every megillah you write has to go as a painfully explicit check to the IRS.

[lnr]

I find it interesting that you include TAX but that's presumably not including income tax and national insurance, or I'd expect it to be more than 3%. Is it just VAT or have you tried to account for alcohol duty and other forms of tax?

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

TAX is explicit bills or cheques I receive with 'tax' in the description; so a mixture of council tax and any tax payment / refund Her Majesty might grant to / require of me. I suppose council tax probably ought to come under ACCOM.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I admire the way that you are so organised as to be able to track that, and so free as to be content to permit us nosey folk to see how things have changed. Thank you!