Comments on: Tips for the Budget-Obsessed

By: SoulScorp

SoulScorp — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:30:33 +0000

I buy 90 percent of my items on my debit card. My bank then
calculates and breaks down all of the purchases throughout the year
which I can extract into an excel spreadsheet. I have groceries,
home maintenance etc all spread out. But what I haven't figured out
is how to break down those expenses listed on one receipt. Good
point!

By: Mike Smith

Mike Smith — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:42:58 +0000

That's an excellent idea Dale. I've noticed that some grocery
stores do the work for you by providing sub-totals automatically on
your receipt. They'll list fruits/vegetables, meats, dairy,
household, etc. That makes things really simple!

By: Dale

Dale — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:28:51 +0000

You can make splitting receipts easier by controlling how items are
rang up @ the register. One way would be to separate items in your
cart and place all grocery (or all non-grocery) on the belt first,
pay attention to what the cashier is doing and ask for a subtotal
(which will print on the receipt) when you get to the end of the
first category. Depending on how much shopping you do at one time,
you can make this even easier by getting two carts and placing
groceries in one cart and non-groceries in the other, then ask for
a subtotal after the first cart is rang up. Depending on how many
categories you may be breaking your budget down by, you can ask for
as many subtotals as you need during the process, then some simple
math will allow your receipt to tell you what was spent in each
category. This won't break sales tax down for you, but you can
either break that down on your own if you chose, or just set up a
separate budget category for sales tax, (If you want to get really
mad at the end of the year when you total up your various
categories). How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time. Little
things can make a big difference over time.