Do you Mystery Spend?

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Silverzone

Silverzone

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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...79_RTRUKOC_0_US-FINANCIAL-MYSTERY.xml&src=rss

This article interested me, because of my habits of doing this. I am 17 years old, and without bills to pay (Cars payed off, and gas is cheap for a small car) My income is mostly disposable. And there has been plenty of times where I would cash my whole check (Yes I know, Dumbass move) and within a couple of days, I would re-count the cash I had and notice a few dollars that I have no recollection of spending it. I used to account this to "Holy crap I must have been pickpocketed!", But now I see the logical explanation lol. I eat out at least once a month (sometimes buying for more than 1 person) i rent games and movies from blockbuster (never get
receipts...) and many more occasions since I pay for everything in cash. But after reading this article I have vowed to change my ways and open a checking/debit account to better keep track of my hard earned dollars. I feel I mystery spend just as much (If not more) than the people the article mentions. So if I kept better track of my money, that would be quite a bit more money that i can spend on things i truly enjoy. So I guess my question is "Do you Mystery Spend, If yes, How much?"
 
No,

All purchases go on my credit card and each receipt is kept for monthly records. That way I can make sure nobody is ripping me off, AND I get cash back. 👍
 
danoff
No,

All purchases go on my credit card and each receipt is kept for monthly records. That way I can make sure nobody is ripping me off, AND I get cash back. 👍
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We do this too. I almost never have more than $20 cash on me, if that.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't impulse buy and spend more money than I should sometimes... but I always get a receipt and I have a monthly record of everything I spent so I can know exactly how much and where it went.

Never carrying a balance on a cash-back card FTW!
 
I sure do, i arrive at the pub every now and again, then i wake up in the morning smelling of kebab and second hand tobacco; with up to £30 missing from my wallet. Its a mystery where it goes.
 
Duke
Never carrying a balance on a cash-back card FTW!
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Sometimes I forget credit card companies even offer the ability to not pay the whole thing at the end of the month.
 
Sometimes I'll take $100 out of an ATM, and then two weeks later, wonder where it all went, but I can usually figure it out. In general, I know where my money is.
 
Its all those 'optional extras' you buy whenever you go out. Fags, bars of chocolate, the odd pint, dinner in Maccy D's - it all adds up.

For instance, a 500ml soft dring brought once every day for for a week, would be approximately £7 on its own (assuming that each bottle was valued at £1). Do the same calculation for all those other useless money burning consumables, and hey presto! You have an empty wallet!
 
Here, everyone has this vice called "coffee". My sister works 3 blocks away from where I live, and if I walk there, I will pass 2 Starbucks, a Tully's, and at least three other stands where you can get a latte. Figure on $4 for whatever your favorite drink is, figure on one every day, and that works out to about $120/month. That's the same as cable TV, high-speed internet, and a bottle of JD. I know which stuff I'd rather have :)
 
kylehnat
Here, everyone has this vice called "coffee". My sister works 3 blocks away from where I live, and if I walk there, I will pass 2 Starbucks, a Tully's, and at least three other stands where you can get a latte. Figure on $4 for whatever your favorite drink is, figure on one every day, and that works out to about $120/month. That's the same as cable TV, high-speed internet, and a bottle of JD. I know which stuff I'd rather have :)
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Wow... Thats insane. Good thing I dont drink coffee much.
 
Silverzone
Wow... Thats insane. Good thing I dont drink coffee much.
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A really good way to keep track of your purchases is with a bank card/check card. You go on to thebanks website, log in and enter your account number and name and whatever else you have to. Next, you will see a screen ssying how much money is currently in you account. You will also see something like a tally list that shows each transaction and what time and (most banks) what place.

I used to do it, but I really stoped spending so much and just kept track in my head for the big purchases( anything over $80) and the little stuff like food or whatever, keep all your of you repisits(sp?) and total it up
 
danoff
No,

All purchases go on my credit card and each receipt is kept for monthly records. That way I can make sure nobody is ripping me off, AND I get cash back. 👍
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I do this, but end up throwing a lot of receipts away because I always check my transactions online every week or so. I havent had more than a few cents in my wallet the past 2 weeks and I eat out every day. I have yet to get charged any interest on my credit card 👍

The only time I have not paid in full was when I got my Macbook Pro and finianced some of it. It was a new CC so I was still in the 0% APR period, so I paid it off gradually and wasn't charged any interest. 👍
 
I rarely use my credit card except when paying subscription fees to err, web sites, like GT Premium for this one :dopey:. I tend to recieve items in the post and think when the hell did I buy this more often then wondering where that £10 note went.
 
HACKr
I usualy will end up buying a soda and having no reccolection of it.
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I have a similar problem quite often. I will buy a drink, say, a coke for example, get back in my car, wedge it between the consol and the passanger seat (to keep it from rolling around), and then promptly forget that it exists. I will later buy another one, get back in my car, see the first one, and drink that instead. This invariably ends up with me getting into the car the next day, and finding the second bottle (bonus! 👍). This second bottle is colder than when I bought it, due to the sub-zero temperatures at night here at the moment, so it's all good.
 
gOoSeTeR
I have a similar problem quite often. I will buy a drink, say, a coke for example, get back in my car, wedge it between the consol and the passanger seat (to keep it from rolling around), and then promptly forget that it exists. I will later buy another one, get back in my car, see the first one, and drink that instead. This invariably ends up with me getting into the car the next day, and finding the second bottle (bonus! 👍). This second bottle is colder than when I bought it, due to the sub-zero temperatures at night here at the moment, so it's all good.
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Man are you fortunate! 👍
 
danoff
No,

All purchases go on my credit card and each receipt is kept for monthly records. That way I can make sure nobody is ripping me off, AND I get cash back. 👍
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Wow. Do you mean a debit card? You don't get charged interest or anything?

My dad debits like everything, and my mom is a woman. ("How much money do I have left?") Go figure.
 
the whole article sounds like a bloody visa commercial...it could be summarized with "get a credit card and you'll have more money."
now guess what, its hardly mysterious that people buy themselves some food and drinks to get through the day since you want that to stay alive. and since when do you expect a night out in the pub to be for free?
 
Yeah I do that, but I try to use my debit card as much as possible.

Funny story. I just went to Canada for 10 days, so I put like a thousand bucks in my debit card account for the trip. So all is good and well until I get back and see that the last 7 or 8 purchases I made were overdrafts (all small things like gas for 20 bucks or dinner for 15, which pisses me off more because I had money with me). I didn't keep any sort of track of the money I was spending, but I figured I had plenty, and that if I didn't have enough my card would be denied.

Nope. Now I've got like 250 bucks in overdraft fees. ****ing Canada.
 
I'm almost always using my debit card. Cash is a rare thing in my wallet.

I keep my receipts for records, but between balancing accounts I check my account online every day, first thing when I get to work, and occasionally I will see something and say, WTF is that? Then I think back to the day before and remember that I did decide I needed a soft drink on the way home.

It's always the little atypical items like that. I've never seen more than $5 that I couldn't immediately remember. Fortunately, to date everything has been found by remembering or pulling out my receipts. No thievery in my account yet.
 
I am currently trying to figure out where $150 went today! I know my internet was billed, and an educational subcription, as well as about $20 worth of shopping. But as for the rest, I have no idea, honestly. I haven't been anywhere today!
 
I find it too hard to keep account of my spendings if i use my debit card so i withdraw my 'spending' money at the start of the month and live of cash - when its gone its gone.
 
gOoSeTeR
I am currently trying to figure out where $150 went today!
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Check the sofa cushions and the space down below your drivers seat in your car. That's where I always lose stuff.
 
FoolKiller
Check the sofa cushions and the space down below your drivers seat in your car. That's where I always lose stuff.
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Unfortunately, it isn't that simple, it was on my card. I think perhaps I got hit with the foreign currency fee. They are supposed to do it at the end of the month. I will ring the bank tomorrow.
 
Omnis
Wow. Do you mean a debit card? You don't get charged interest or anything?
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No, I wouldn't waste cash back points by using a debit card. I WOULD get charged interest if I ran a balance on my credit card from one month to the next, but since that would be an increadibly bad idea financially there is no risk of that.

Lets assume I put $1000 on the credit card every month between myself and my wife (sometimes I do more, sometimes less). I put groceries, gas, cable, internet, electricity, random spending (like eating out every week), etc all on the credit card and it adds up quickly.

With 1.5% cash back on the credit card, I get $15/month (for the assumed spending above) just for using my credit card. That covers internet for me. VISA pays for my interent, basically. Thanks VISA!!! VISA, on the otherhand, doesn't get a dime from me since I don't screw with cards that charge fees and I don't carry a balance.

Over the next few months discover is offering me 5% back on purchases from dell, and since I was going to buy from dell anyway, I think I'll take advantage of that. Let's see, I drop $500 at dell, that's $25 bucks back just for using discover, VISA would still kick in the nominal $15 so that month I'd get paid $40 bucks by the credit card companies.

Man I love credit card companies. Keep in mind, that's POST tax. $15bucks/month is the equivalent of a $25/month raise (ish).

Sometimes I do better than what I listed above. When I bought my car I put $5k (as much as they'd let me) on the credit card. All of tutition (way more than the the contribution from the car) also went on the credit card. So the cash back is a big perk. Obviously running a balance is out of the question and will immediately erase all of the gains. But I don't mind getting an extra few bucks every month for the convenience of using a credit card.

...and I didn't even go into the few cents I saved in interest by not having to fork over the cash until the end of the month.


Edit: Oh, and perhaps the best part!!! After getting paid for the convenience of using a credit card, I actually build good credit in the process! Debit cards do nothing to help you build good credit.
 
danoff
Lets assume I put $1000 on the credit card every month between myself and my wife (sometimes I do more, sometimes less). I put groceries, gas, cable, internet, electricity, random spending (like eating out every week), etc all on the credit card and it adds up quickly.

With 1.5% cash back on the credit card, I get $15/month (for the assumed spending above) just for using my credit card.
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Are you me from another dimension? We do exactly the same thing.
 
SOunds ideal danoff, however the majority of people who have a credit card DO run a balance, and some end up getting into unsurmountable debt. I will not be getting a creditcard any time soon, as I know what I am like, and it would get out of hand.
 
Well, I don't have many bills either cuz I'm 16 but I do have a pretty expensive gas bill ( $40 at the cheapest ) each week and I still owe my Dad $2,250 so those are the only two things I save my money for. I have a checking and savings account at a bank and I use my ATM/Debit card as much as I can because the banks has an online record that say where I spent the money and when. If use cash fo anything it's usually because I just got it out of the ATM machine anyway so I still remember what I bought.

The thing that annoys me though is that the bank won't give me checks because I'm not an adult and every once and awhile it would make things alot easier like when I go to pay my dad for my car. Instead of goin to the bank and withdrawing hundreds of dollars it'd be so much easier to just write a check.
 
gOoSeTeR
SOunds ideal danoff, however the majority of people who have a credit card DO run a balance, and some end up getting into unsurmountable debt. I will not be getting a creditcard any time soon, as I know what I am like, and it would get out of hand.
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Yes, danoff appears to have some sort of superhuman self discipline. It's very admirable. I unfortunately like stuff, especially if it has flashing lights and makes noises.
 
danoff
Man I love credit card companies.
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And they probably hate you for turning their system against them. Of course, they absolutely love the scads of money they make off of all the stupid people who think that since they have a $20,000 credit limit, they can buy $20,000 worth of stuff.
 

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