I’m a numbers girl. I love to track and trend all kinds of data in particular financial data in retirement. Now that I think about it, putting new spreadsheets and systems in place to do financial data analysis, after retiring, helped me transition away from spreadsheet engineering and project management at work. I would have missed that terribly after retiring if I hadn’t been able to do this.

I firmly believe that you can not manage what you do not track. Every month I track and trend our spending, recompute our net worth, update the estimate our taxes, etc.

Whenever we have a major project to do, I always have a detailed budget in a spreadsheet and track how we are doing against that.

If we have a major decision to make, and there are any financial implications, I try to consolidate those numbers, and do a trade study.

Hilariously, I try to give my husband detailed monthly status reports; but alas..he resists. He is a big picture thinker and would rather not be bothered with the “details”. His only question is “Do I have to go back to work?” If the answer is “No” then he is good to go. We make a good team.

On this blog, I will try to be as real about cost as I possibly can be; because I think there is a vacuum of honest information out there. This is especially true when it comes to the cost of home renovation or DIY.