Thursday, February 22, 2007

Analysis Freak Strikes Again

I've been very self-conscious about my spending lately, feeling like a big shopaholic. A lot of it is due to settling into my new condo, and though it's painful to see the outflow of money, it's not unexpected. But sometimes I feel like it's kind of set loose my inner wild spending beast, who just wants to buy buy buy all kinds of things that have nothing to do with a new home, exactly when I can least afford to do so! But is it really that bad? I decided to do a little comparative analysis on my credit card records to find out.


2005 2006 YTD 2007 07 var 05 07 var 06
total cc $21,240 $24,496 $4,347

total items 435 449 64

items over $100 47 43 7

avg $ per month $1,770 $2,041 $2,717 53% 33%
avg items per month 36.3 37.4 40.0 10% 7%
avg over $100 per month 3.9 3.6 4.4 12% 22%

This shows my total credit card charges for 2005, 2006 and so far in 2007, as well as a count of total charge items, items over $100 and averages for all these. As you can see, my spending is up quite a bit by all measures!
I also like to look at data in charts sometimes, as they sometimes clarify things in ways that pure numbers can't:

Of course it's early in the year still, so it all may wash out after a while. We'll see!

4 comments:

fin_indie said...

Oh man, love the overlays on that chart! Hang in there... I'm experiencing the same thing. It must be the depressing winter weather begging us to buy, buy, buy! Hopefully your spending will normalize as spring and summer wear on.

Anonymous said...

The overlays on the chart are exceptional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to use this at work.

mapgirl said...

Funny picture. That's hilarious!

Setting up the new household is always a drain on cash, but think of how much of the spending is one time only! That's what made me panic less when buying a broom, bucket, cutting board, etc.

Anonymous said...

I personally look after my family budget and all spending items need to be accounted for so that at any point in time you know where you are. Requires discipline but that's the only way.
To help you with budgeting I'd recommend a personal finance software by Australian business Parcus Group.
Easy to use program with features including budgeting, financial planning, real estate analysis, shares valuation, life insurance...
Costs US$24 so it's not a huge investment but absolutely great value for money.
You can get it on http://www.parcusgroup.com/index.html
or
http://www.parcusgroup.com/index.html
Regards