Personal Financial Audit

Posted by santosj on April 26, 2007

Yeah, it is that time again. I think the last time I did this, it was last year. Time to pull out the old virtual checkbook and see where I’m wasting money and where I can save money. Going off of Maugrim the Reaper’s advice and some other book source that I’ve long forgotten the name of. I can create a list of items that are high priority, mid priority, and low priority.

The high priority are items which are required that I pay for and can’t easily stop paying without incurring some penalties. Mid level priority items are items that are optional, but highly desired; if I had to do so, I could do without them. Low priority are items I need to stop paying for as quickly as possible.

The fourth category are impulsive buys, which are lower than low priority purchases and where I’m probably spending the most money. Impulsive items are the hardest to keep from buying, something that is cheap doesn’t seem like it would take much, but taken over time it does add up. Given my addictive personality, which explains why I don’t smoke, do drugs or drink; this category is probably where I’ll cut myself the most in attempts.

Well, that said, I think the audit should be on its separate page, because it is something that I’ll have to keep and complete over time. Probably spend a week or two to go over my various financial sources. Also I’ll want to create a list of items of purchase.

Why I’m doing this

I’m not in a bind that I need to scrape for cash, but that I’m finding that I’m short of cash and I’m curious as to why. Well, that isn’t exactly true, because I know the obvious reasons and I’m working on clearing those. I’m just curious as statistics and facts as to what I’m wasting and spending money on, so if it comes to it, I can cut those expenses.

With ~17000 USD annual income, single, with no dependents, I shouldn’t have a problem having money. I think the mentality counts, because I had no problems saving when it was transfered from my check before I received. I would like to do this, but I don’t have access to the routing and checking numbers for the saving account since it is online. I could set up automatic transfers from my checking to the savings, but I can’t really access my online savings account. Yes, I need to contact the company and get my password and username. The online banking site is locked down so damn tight, well that is a good thing, but it is annoying at this point. My point is, if I have no problem saving 100 dollars a paycheck then I shouldn’t have problems doing it on my own.

What the audit won’t cover

Computer parts and electronics.

The audit isn’t why I’m not saving money, as I’m saving money to buy computer parts and electronics. It doesn’t so much make sense to record expenses that I’m saving up for anyway. Do I need to buy these items? No, but nevertheless I’m not going to count them.

Taken as a whole, actually, I’ve used credit to pay for most of my Media Center PC. It isn’t so much as an direct expense, to me personally, so much as the credit payment is. My reasoning is that I’m paying for the purchases over time which is better than floating a check or going under, which are both unjustifiable. I’ll rather pay 20 dollars a month for an item that costed 100 dollars than spend the 100 dollars out of available 150 or 200 USD.

I’m not going to be paying my bills with credit (as that would be completely idiotic and against all common sense and logical reasoning), so I think about how much I have in my bank account after bills before I pay the bills and apply that to what I buy most of the time. Therefore the audit is more about what I’m spending with my bank account and not indirect purchases. Well, that doesn’t take in account that I may lose my job at any point and I’ll have a huge amount of debt that I’ll have to pay back regardless. In that case less bills would be better in case I have to drop every mid to low priority expenses.

Ultimate Goal

I think it would be a good idea to take control of what I spend, since I want to own my own place. You know, this line, “Yeah, I live with my parents and I’m 21…” doesn’t really go over well with women I want to sleep with. They’ll have to be seriously drunk and I don’t really want to be accused of anything.

Saying, “Yeah, I own my place! Would you like to come over?” with the crazy and nervous laugh and raised eyebrows to seal the deal. Goes over better with attracting the opposite gender, not the last part which has the opposite effect. It really spoils the mood when your mom knocks on the door.

That and I have a lot of crap that I need to store and a small room doesn’t work well. I would really like to have my bedroom as a bedroom and have all of my other stuff outside in other rooms. A lot of research says a lot that the bedroom should be used only for sleeping to allow for better sleep. I’ve used computers in the living room before, so it shouldn’t be that much of a bother doing so again.

I want to have at least 1000-1500 USD for a down payment and have good enough credit to pay the rest. I’ll probably need a personal loan to fix the place up and lay Cat 6 cables through the walls and RJ45 in the rooms. You know, for experience and pimping out the home and what better way than to tear out the walls and lay piping and run patch cables.

I forget, can you not use PVC in walls or is that just the ceiling? Will do research, but I think that since it will be a trailer that it won’t really matter once the thing goes up in flames. However, it could impact the health of people close to the mobile home. Metal is a lot more expensive as would buying racks and industrial grade special ceiling grade wiring. Can’t just lay any old patch cable in the ceiling, from what I can remember.

Buying the rack mount switches and casing is going to cost my soul, but I think it’ll be worth the price. Isn’t like I’m going to move anytime soon after I buy the place. At least not until I pay off the financing.

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