Paraphrasing Stephen King, but I believe I can relate a subject and a question to this relevant to MMM, so please stay with me for a few more sentences.
I've been a little slow wrt tracking finances, probably mostly due to the fact that all the time we had a mortgage I didn't bother. Excess money? put it in the mortgage. In retrospect, not so smart since I haven't been tracking expenses. I finally put together a spreadsheet after so many years to have a look at the numbers. I did notice we spend a lot! So I have taken some simple actions, like dropping the IP phone noone ever uses, and we stopped "cable" in favor of Netflix and the state channels are free on the net so I bought a Chromecast ("Free", the government charge 2000+ NOK (obligatory) per year to fund these channels). Anyway, the spreadsheet's been sitting up on my computer for a few weeks, I've adjusted the numbers every two weeks. Working as a software developer (surprise, surprise) I started thinking about systems and databases and whether it would be possible to first build a model of the important details related to money and then have that same model contribute to your understanding and actions. So, there you have the Stephen King reference, ok I know that is not the original interpretation, but it got me thinking. Obviously, this is usually done manually by using spreadsheets and looking at reports and generally being mindful/setting aside time, but I am curious if some you have delved deeper into the realm of automation, for instance, building an inventory of household items and tracking/estimating potential savings, looking up prices/offers? Do you use scripts to massage your spreadsheets? Do you monitor events on the net? Don't be shy! :)
I'm envisioning checking my virtual agent each morning, and observing what's in store for me that day: - Remember to fuel your car this morning, because gas prices are lowest this day of the week, - Purchase washing liquid through this special offer, - Consider, ordering your vacation trip early to save air fare......You catch my drift