On that note, we picked up a fun, large quilted baby mat the boys are loving from Stacey at Peppermint Pinwheels via Bloesem who I found via A Merry Mishap.

milo in blue, hudson in tan. Dad’s still learning how to act fast with the camera…

Every project requires design, feasibility, benefit, time, resources, materials, and cost. Let’s face it, stuff costs money. But where does all the money go? Whether you have a budget, plan, cost-estimate, or you jump in and ask questions later, stuff just doesn’t add-up in the end. I’d like to share a little on how I track project costs —

I’ve been using mint.com to help plan and stay on top of each project for the house. It’s simple, automatic, and free. I’ve created a variety of home improvement goals I’m saving for… such as landscaping and decks… currently targeted for next summer.

Here’s a quick example of the fence work that was completed with matt. While I had written a check to matt for fence material, he purchased the goods from competitive metals and wanted to accurately reflect details for the fencing project. mint automatically pulls transactions from my financial institutions on a nightly basis.

transaction detail

In this case, I want to breakdown the cost of the steel fence for future reference. Galvy tubing, sheet metal, hardware, etc.

splitting the transaction

Based on receipt details, I split the transaction from 1 to 3 line items — and change the payee to competitive metals.

adding tags

I’ve created a bunch of tags, and typically add notes to just about each transaction that is project related. Tags help me accurately see the lump sum of a project initiative. I’ve covered just about every aspect of the project I want to track… from exterior to the interior, services, supplies, and so on. It may look time intensive, but I can assure you it’s a matter of a few minutes per day, if that.

trends

A simple visualization helps me untangle the complexity of project spending to view totals by merchant, category or tag. It’s been insightful and interesting to see where the money has been going for the last 12 months. Some notables: At least one purchase from the hardware store every weekend for the last year… over 70 purchases (yikes). More importantly, the unexpected costs associated with the waterproofing project which has forced us to reevaluate the budget for landscaping, decks, etc.

What do you use to track your projects? How is it working for you?

Check out more from mint.com.

Is the gap too messy?

I would keep an 1″ at the top to bottom…

We went for a stroll to grab some lunch and decided to cruise into Halcyon Tea. The shop is very well done! Friendly staff, good atmosphere, great prices for a tea connoisseur or average joe (me). We picked up a fresh ounce of organic chamomile (a wee bit under the weather) and a nice for life tea set. Check it out when you’re in South Park.

Managed to finish the stucco despite ongoing rain showers. Next: color
coat