Ever looked at old check registers in disbelief?

[Deleted]

I started an online check register when I got divorced. I have no idea why, but I looked back at the beginning tonight. How did I live on that much money is my major comment.

My register has so much detail that I can say, "Oh, yeah, I bought this or that." It is humbling that I no long appreciate most of this or that.

It honestly made me not want to spend anything for other than necessities again.

[alabamagal]

I remember what my take home pay was to the $ for my first job right out of college. I remember being so proud of making that much money. It was pretty good pay back then (26 years ago). I am always thankful that I make more now.

[Gardening Grandma]

We don't keep old check registers, but when MIL passed we had to go through hs. She had them dating back to the fifties.... It took us forever because we kep stopping and saying, "Look at her phone bill (or whstever)!"

[Formerly SK]

Not registers, but I came across a "personal goals" list a few years ago dating back from when I was 18. One of them was to have as many cc as I liked, but to not carry more than $100 balance on each one. I guess having 10 cc with <$100 on each one isn't as bad as one cc with say a $700 balance. It's not debt if it's spread about in small numbers.

[Deleted]

My check register (computer-based. which is why it has so much history) had enough detail where I could usually tell what I bought. That was so interesting. It starts in 1998 with my divorce. I would spend $3.88 at a local cafeteria, which had to be veggie plate and probably water. It looks like that was a once-a-week treat for me.

I also got to watch my income creep up. That part was fun.

[chiver78]

Jul 28, 2012 13:50:15 GMT -5 @insurancegal said:

Old registers? Yes. The first thing I noticed was how cheap things were back then. Gas/elect, etc. The next thing I noticed was how frivolous my spending was. If I only knew back then what I know now...

right? totally with you here!

Jul 28, 2012 9:24:43 GMT -5 @tbird said:

Money is crazy these days - you can't compare to previous times easily, because the meaning is so different.

it doesn't compare apples-to-apples, but it can still give you insight to your former self. I've got all my old registers in a box somewhere (I packed up the office when the carpet got installed a few months back) and it's definitely an interesting thing to go back through. your income was totally different, utilities were (likely) a lot lower, cable/internet/phone was certainly lower, and look at those spending patterns! if I could have back all the money I wasted on X, Y, or Z......damn.

[KaraBoo]

I came across my tax returns while I was still married to the x-husband a couple of years ago. Even filing joint, we didn't clear $20k. The sad part about that amount was that I made at least 75% of the amount (which I don't remember off hand) we claimed.

Finally shredded it all....

[constanz22]

I love looking through them. I had a couple here that were in a box of old papers I was burning. From the best I can tell, they were from about 1998-99. Wow...I was barely taking home $1,000 a month. Surprisingly, my car insurance wasn't much less then than it is now. That jumped out at me. Almost all of my "gas" entries were less than $10!!! Crap, I'm lucky now if it's under $25 and that only gives me about 2/3 tank!