Who all tracks their spending and plans on their projects?

[chrislehr]

Do you dare post the xls?

Here's mine.. 6 mos of ownership, and I have nearly doubled what I paid for the truck in parts and fixing things up here and there. My planned upgrades nearly triple it.



I know many of you spend a WHOLE lot more.. im wondering if there is budget behind some of these builds..

Im far more happy to buy a 3k vehicle and watch the "value" increase then a 35k new vehicle worth 25k with 1 mile on it.

A day one pic:


Here is how she sits today:

[Sport/Truck]

It's pretty easy to double the price of these trucks! I had mine for 2 months before I pulled the front end off!
I'm real close to getting it running again, but have to spend the weekend replacing a clutch on my commuter car......

As far as budget....I don't have one. I pull something off, I ether clean it or replace it.
But what your doing is probable the best way. Some jump in without a clue to what it's going to cost. They get overwhelmed, run out of money and loose interest.
s/t

[Boog]

oooooh no, no I dont' keep up with it. I am not in this for the investment. I also do not plan to sell it so I look at it as just money spent enjoying a hobby. I think many of us really do not want to know just how much we have spent. It's not like a contest to see who can spend the most or anything...or is it? I guess you could keep up with it then compare with others to see how much you got done for the least amount of $, if you wanted.

[Sport/Truck]

Originally Posted by Boog

oooooh no, no I dont' keep up with it. I am not in this for the investment. I also do not plan to sell it so I look at it as just money spent enjoying a hobby. I think many of us really do not want to know just how much we have spent. It's not like a contest to see who can spend the most or anything...or is it? I guess you could keep up with it then compare with others to see how much you got done for the least amount of $, if you wanted.

I agree, it's just a hobby and nobody budgets their hobbies do they?
s/t

[chrislehr]

Originally Posted by Boog

oooooh no, no I dont' keep up with it. I am not in this for the investment. I also do not plan to sell it so I look at it as just money spent enjoying a hobby. I think many of us really do not want to know just how much we have spent. It's not like a contest to see who can spend the most or anything...or is it? I guess you could keep up with it then compare with others to see how much you got done for the least amount of $, if you wanted.

lol - im far from considering this an investment, but I am anal about spending and like to track what I put into projects, so this time around I started tracking it. I had one for my old car (a Subaru WRX) and I dumped 10k into that in the 5 years I owned it (yikes, talk about bad investments)

[tcb-1]

I have an Excel spread sheet as well, but it mysteriously hasn't been updated in a LONG time.

[Palf70Step]

I track all my vehicles in an access database. I guess that comes from the Project Manager side of me

[LUV2XCLR8]

If I did ............. and my wife were to find it .............

[ksjh1316]

I am just as bad i have a spreadsheet with the total cash in hand to spend and every purchase itemised to not run over. I add back in parts sold in another catagory and even have a seperate catagoty fot tax on the final body work. The sheet is just as fun as the truck trying to get out of a set budget what you want can be a great puzzle

[jayharrell]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

If I did ............. and my wife were to find it .............

I'm with yah on that one...

[468chvy]

I put all my receipts in a box and added them up, what i put into isn't any where close to what I can get for it, I got about 25k into it, don't ask me, I started whn I was 15, and still change things on it, I'd post a pic, but I've seen alot nicer trucks the cost alot less to look like they do, let's just say that my truck is in the family for good, hopefully my 7 month old daughter will want to have it when she turns 16, I mean drive it, we'll see, I still need to get rims for it, and now the bed is getting redone too,I'll post some pics

[Brock]

I've got one...somewhere, it was more of a starter/wish list.

As far as receipts, All I have to do is check my ebay account!!!

[Brock]

OK, I dug mine out of the attic of the computer and actually updated it. By the way I found that ebay's history only goes back so far. So, I went to paypal and they have everything that I've bought and paid for through them.

So far it looks like I've spent ~$1722.09 and I...don't run which is good because I have no brakes, no lights, and the tires/rims are shot...oh not to mention its not licensed (the engine ran when I bought it though so it should be good after it gets wired up and I have the lights just not hooked up, and I'm working on the licensing thing).

I've got a Question...How did you post your spreadsheet on here?

[bc gman]

I keep a folder in my cabinet with all the receipts but will probaly not do a total until the truck has been finished.

[cmcarter06]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

If I did ............. and my wife were to find it .............

I agree. I have receipts for most stuff, but if my wife were to know how much has been spent and how much more needs to be spent....lets just say not a good thing.

[straitnate14]

well,
truck $4000,
blower $1600
locker $320
shift kit $90
converter $300
back tires $300
exaust $600
carb $500
boost controler $200
front disk break kit $550
= $8460 is how much I have spent on the truck in less than a year
thats most of the stuff that matters and cost a fair bit of money I'm 19 I got a good job in the army and I dont want to end up like my dad or my brother, I want my truck done before I get a house or married and at the rate I'm going I should have no trouble, bought the truck last oct and I just started working on it this last april.

[shovelhead]

I don't know if I should thank or cuss y'all for this thread. I asked my wife to build me a spreadsheet to track my costs. I had some stuff written down and a BIG pile of receipts. I called out the date, store, costs and items to her. When we were finished, I had over $5000 in a truck that is a BARE FRAME sitting on sawhorses in the back yard! My kid remarked that if you figure in the time I've spent, that would cover a note for whatever I wanted to drive! The wife didn't say anything, but kinda looked at me funny. I used up all my wit and my comeback was: Shut up Y'all!
As Forrest Gump said, "I'm not a smart man."
Anyway, I'm not unhappy, but kinda scared at the amount of dough I've spent on engine parts, paint and blasting sand. My original estimate was a couple of years and $3500-5000. Yeah Right! I still wanna track the costs of this project, so thanks for the inspiration (I guess!)

shovelhead

[Shyguy]

I like your approach to keeping records of your progress and expenditures on your project. I too am keeping track of things, but I think I like the way you are doing it better.

It looks like you have been working hard and made a lot of improvements.

My project started out more modest, my two parts trucks and short frame cost me $450 and after we have put everything together to make one truck I have about double into it. The project was originally supposed to be my grandson's but he had other priorities and I bought it from him so he could do other stuff he wanted.

I guess I have had my project for about six months. I started with a non running engine and now it moves under its own power with a l6 and 4 speed.

Here is a before and after picture. It started out as a '67 C-20 lwb stepper and now is a '67 C-10 swb stepper.

Keep up the good work.

Danny

[Green Machine]

I've started to keep track a few times, we've done two trucks and working on a third, would be nice to know for sure what we've spent but it would scare me I'm sure. Kind of hard to keep track of the little items, like $5 for some bolts, and taking the time to write down everything. I figure it's going to cost whatever it costs to get it done to the level we want to get to, so it does not matter what it costs, except what the wallet can handle. It would likley be kind of depressing to know what it really costs, because things add up so fast.

[shortbed70]

Yea it adds up in a hurry. I've had mine for 5 years and just started purchasing parts two years ago while I enjoyed it for a while now its getting down to the time to tear down and start the restomod process. I have all the reciepts for the last 3 years of stuff I've bought and even the small reciepts from parts stores along with my bigger purchases totalling the high side of 2G's just for parts setting on the shop floor and I haven't started on the body yet,suspension,interior parts of the motor....Like boog said I dont keep track for the resale purchase I just like to know what I have in it and so the insurance company also knows what I have in it. I've heard horror stories about these trucks getting totaled and not getting 1/100th of what they've put into them.

[BACKYARD88]

I save all of my receipts but I refuse to add them up until I get finished. Hopefully I'll still be young to keep from having a heart attack when I do

[blukangoo]

I don´t even want to know. I still have all the receipts in the shop but am too lazy to add them all up.
If I did, I would probably kick my own butt before my wife gets to it.
She doesn´t have any idea what I have put into it either.
She does know what it cost me and what it cost to get it over here.

[Riveted1]

Originally Posted by BACKYARD88

I save all of my receipts but I refuse to add them up until I get finished. Hopefully I'll still be young to keep from having a heart attack when I do

Haha same here. I just have a folder that I put all of my receipts into. I have a ledger for the used parts I buy in there too. It's mostly for me to look at when I'm done and see where I could spend more efficiently on the next project.

[msgross]

I started adding mine up like that for the first year... now I stopped, but should catch up.

I haven't saved receipts either, all the small things (bolts, spraypaint, etc..) get skipped.

Then the wife was looking at the numbers and that wasn't good, looks like I need to protect the spreadsheet with a password!

[68shortstep]

Truck, all improvements such as a swapped & rebuilt "new" old 350 engine, auto trans & axles swap, plus lotsa other things - mostly operation & safety to this point -totals right at about $ 7,900 for me.

What's it worth ? Probably half that, if I was lucky, given that it still "needs" interior work, some minor rust repair, full re-wire or extensive electrical re-do, bed wood, AC, etc, etc, etc. It never stops.

But who's counting ? You have to plan on losing/spending significant money to jump into doing one of these, but it's still way more fun and way less loss than buying a new car or truck........ And the new econo-boxes don't EVER get "the look" & the thumbs-up that cruising in one of ours ALWAYS does.

Like Chrislehr said at the start of this thread: "Im far more happy to buy a 3k vehicle and watch the "value" increase then a 35k new vehicle worth 25k with 1 mile on it."