Saturday, January 07, 2006

2005 budget vs. actual

One last year-end observation: after I wrote the last post, I realized I had looked at actual expenses but not at how they totaled up vs. the budget I established at the beginning of the year. I was over budget on expenses by quite a bit, but I realized when I budgeted my payroll taxes, I only took into account the bi-weekly deductions from my salary, not the big bite that gets taken out of my bonus. So when I backed out the taxes, here was the result:

2005 expense budget: $35,042
2005 expense actual: $35,055
variance: +$13 / 0.04%


Whooo, it almost made chills run up my spine! Isn't that freaky? Of course some of the categories within the budget were well over (dining, gifts, home-buying expenses), and others were under (travel, miscellaneous, gym, clothing) but I still can't believe the final result was so dead-on. Of course I would have preferred for it to have been -$13...

[Updated] Wait a minute, wait a minute! I just compared this to the post below and realized I have my budget and actual reversed! The actual is $35,042 and budget was $35,055! I AM UNDER budget by $13! Now I am just tickled pink and I can go and enjoy the rest of my Saturday night with a spring in my step and a smile on my face! I will have to use my $13 to buy one of the fabulous Cosmopolitans at Temple Bar!

3 comments:

Caitlin said...

WOW. That IS freaky! Great job. I am really impressed.

vr6trd said...

very impressive that you were able to determine the appropriate budget amount and only have a variance of $13. Could you do it a second year in a row?

Neo

Alsymer said...

Congratulations! What an accomplishment! Kudos to you for: 1) making such good estimates up front, and 2) sticking to your guns (and budget), even with the natural variances that life inevitably throws you. Woo-hoo!

Okay, now you realize you've set the bar pretty high for the rest of us, don't you? Sheesh! I think I'll be re-reviewing my numbers for 2006 ... break out the calculator! :-)