Tracking CC Rewards & Expenses

[MarkintheHV]

 I am lazier than @ privacyadvocate69   You can get everything at https://www.tillerhq.com.  I have used their spreadsheet for years now and love it.  It doesnt do rewards, but, they are a pretty good bunch over there that will help you out if you screw something up.  With them, you can choose their product on google sheets or excel.

[Anonymous]

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@privacyadvocate69 wrote:

All of THAT info is used in the "Monthly Checkbook Register" tabs. There are 12 of these, one for every month.  These are READ ONLY and basically provide a convenient, easy-to-read view of the information in the payment matrix.  Here is one:

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@privacyadvocate69 

Given your user name, I assume you have modified the data in these sheets.   I would hate to waste the time of my ex-GRU buddies to look for a Jane and Dirk Diggler (OK, that is suspicious!) living in PA who work at Nasa and FBI, associated with a Suzi, have a Buick, Jeep, Yamaha and Honda, living somewhere near Juliana's Restaurant, Hovis Auto Supply etc etc

[robsteriam]

Thank you so much for sharing.

[Aeon]

I use YNAB to track both. I have a budget category/line item called "Interest/Cashback/Rebates/SUBs" and put all money I receive from those sources for the month in that line item. It's not difficult for me to parse out the CC rewards in the reports.

(I use an older version of YNAB that doesn't have the option to sync to financial institutions. Users of the current app have the option to sync via Plaid. Manual entry is either a deal-breaker or "no big deal" for many YNABers.)

[privacyadvocate69]

The important values have been edited (;

I can't believe you don't know who Dirk Diggler is (;

[Anonymous]

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@privacyadvocate69 wrote:

The important values have been edited (;

I can't believe you don't know who Dirk Diggler is (;

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Good.  Note the (OK, that's suspicious) after the name!  

[TheRedHat]

*looks at the various charts*

I just use YNAB, record the cash back, and move on. *shrug*

[robsteriam]

That's good to know. I can take advantage of my student status to get YNAB for free for 1 year. I will look into that.

[robsteriam]

Do you happen to be an accountant? Those records are extremely detailed. I essentially have a "budget" sheet and track recurring/large purchases and put misc for everything else. How much time do you think you spend on updating the information?

[privacyadvocate69]

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@robsteriam wrote:

Do you happen to be an accountant? Those records are extremely detailed. I essentially have a "budget" sheet and track recurring/large purchases and put misc for everything else. How much time do you think you spend on updating the information?

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Me?  No, not accountant. Just a project manager.

I only spend a few minutes a day updating info. That's all it takes, since the spreadsheets are already set up (which originally took hours, and have been refined over the years).

Basically, it amounts to two things:

1). What bills do we have and how do we ensure everything is getting paid?

2). Where does our money go?

The ability to forecast income and bill payments months into the future is very helpful.

We spend virtually all of our "daily variable expenses" on a credit card, so it's easy to track. The location of the spend general indicates what it is...for example Aldi and Costco are groceries, unless wife tells me she got something else there.

Overall, it's pretty easy at this point.