Finally Got Done Reconciling October!

It has been a pure pain-in-the-ass, but by going to the library last (Monday) night (after passing out in the evening) and using a computer's 10-key, I finally got through reconciling my expenses for last month.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.  I still own a day planner, a Frankly Quest/Covey.  I still am obsessed with how much money I spend, so for the past couple decades, every month I write down, in my FQ/C, the money I take out from the ATM or bank and how much money I spend on stuff.  This is the reason I do those Expenses Without Receipt(s) blogs from time to time: If I don't have receipts on things I use cash for, I need to write them down somewhere before I forget.

This is a pain-in-the-ass even if I were timely about it.  It does take up a lot of time.  And these monthly reconciliations do not take into account everything I use my credit card for, which, admittedly, skews the idea of tracking my expenses so much it raises the question of why even do this.  (Fair question.)  But this month, trying to get through October, has been a particularly brutal chore. 

I blame being sick for much of the month, and last month.  I usually go to a place, either Caffetto or Glam Doll, to sit down, reach into my pockets, pull out the receipts I do have and write them down, or (this requires a second visit) blogging about EWR.  I then have to tally up the amounts, write them down in my Franklin Quest, and then finally add them up to see if I spent more cash or took out more cash.  I write down my results, I put away last month's pages, insert the current month's pages into my day planner, and that's that.  But I was so sick I didn't want to go out or do anything.  So the receipts piled up, and piled up.  And it got to the point where I had to relieve this mass of paper in my left hip pocket because it was getting to be too damn much.

That was the first week of November, where I was still coughing up a storm.  It took a while, and it took deciding that I couldn't do other things, such as watch TV sitcoms or exercising, to finally catch up on this mountain of receipts and jot the amounts down in my day planner.  But, with the help of finally getting better, I finally did.  And, not for nothing, turns out I spent just $1.75 more than I took out of my bank account.  I don't remember if I have had a smaller month-end amount, either in the black or in the red, ever.  That might not mean anything, but weird results like that make doing these month-end reconciliations worthwhile to me.