Preliminary Finding on Monthly Budget Rewrite
The spreadsheet was built in 2020. The grocery line has been revised four times since January.
Preliminary Finding on Monthly Budget Rewrite For the Period Beginning When the Old Numbers Stopped Working
Section 1: Background
The monthly budget was created at a time when the monthly budget was accurate. It contained a grocery estimate derived from actual grocery spending at that time. It was a reasonable document.
It is no longer accurate. The question of when it stopped being accurate is an investigation with no definitive start date, only a series of months in which the variance grew larger than could be attributed to error.
Section 2: The Revision Record
The grocery line has been revised. Upward. The revision was resisted for two months on the grounds that the increase would normalize and the original number would become correct again.
The increase did not normalize.
A second revision followed. This one was accepted with less resistance. The third was performed without discussion. The fourth, completed this month, was performed with the attitude of a person who has accepted that updating a number is different from agreeing with what the number represents.
Section 3: Reference Prices
Every old price is still available for comparison. This is not a feature. The price of rice in 2019 is not relevant to the price of rice in 2022. It is nonetheless present and cited in the internal monologue that accompanies every checkout.
These prices will remain active until the person stops citing them. Based on current trajectory, that will not be this quarter.
Section 4: Finding
The budget has been updated. The old numbers are archived. The new numbers are correct.
The new numbers are worse.
This finding is preliminary. Further revisions are anticipated by June.