Dragoncon Livejournal Community Archive

I transfer a certain amount per paycheck into my savings account for fun - D*C, other cons, random travel, shiny new toys, etc. I also make per-paycheck transfers into the savings account that are allocated for property tax, and for general savings. Rather than relying on the bank's balance and my memory, I have a spreadsheet that lists the entire year's transactions - past and future - and what each transaction is for. So I can see how much I have allocated for fun, tax, or general at any time. It's really helped me save and budget. I know exactly how much I'll have available, say, for con plane tickets if I have to blow a bunch of money on, say, kitchen sink repair. Breaking the account up like that has really helped, rather than having one pool of money with no well-defined plan of what to do with it. Yeah, I'm a spreadsheet nerd :)