bitful

I used to log on to Windows Money every single day (sometimes twice a day) to download transactions from my bank accounts and log all my cash expenses.

Clearly, that was madness. I have kept a log of everything I spend every day ever since I can remember, first on paper notebooks, then on Filofax printed cash flow and credit card inserts, and later graduating to a text file on my computer and moving up the ladder via more and more complex spreadsheets until the orgasmic beauty that is Microsoft Money. Oops, got a bit carried away again. Sorry.

I was saying, perhaps my obsessive habit could be justified in the days of yore, when I had to check in the morning whether that day I could afford to buy food (or, more likely, cigarettes - what the hell was I thinking?). Today I am in a slightly more comfortable place financially and impending omens of bankruptcy can wait until the next Sunday morning.

So I've decided to keep one week's worth of receipts, write down my cash transactions in an note on my mobile phone and only update MS Money at the weekend.

Now this is willpower, originally uploaded by bitful.

It turns out this week I've only used cash twice, to buy coffee and a beer. My credit card, however, is piping hot. Well, at least I have the good habit of paying my credit card bill in full every month.

And now please excuse me, but the sweet siren song that MS Money does when it reconciles transactions is summoning me to give it all my undivided attention.

I've lost it again, haven't I?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 6:54 am and last modified on December 23rd, 2007 at 9:24 pm, and is filed under personal, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.