As you may have guessed, because I have chronic OCD am a very organised person, I keep meticulous financial records. I write down every transaction in and out of my main bank account in a yellow surveyor's notebook, and I have done since 1996.

Here is a sample (very old!) page from my book:


The other night I was filling in my book when I realised that these books might be quite interesting to anyone studying history in the future. I'd love to see a similar book from a couple of hundred years ago. It would be fascinating to see what kinds of items people bought, and observe how prices increased over time. Even in the above photo, taken less than ten years ago, it only cost £20.59 to fill my car with petrol! Anyway, as per usual, I didn't say any of this out loud, and instead started the conversation like so:

Alicey: Mattgreen! When I die, please can you donate my yellow books to a museum!
Mattgreen: (sarcastically) I'll certainly donate them to some form of institution, dear.
Alicey: (seriously, in a slightly hurt tone) They would be really interesting for the next generation.
Mattgreen: (in pretend future person's voice) "Oooh, what have we here? (slowly) Stuff... that... people... bought?! Stop the virtual reality sex for a moment!!"
Alicey: *sigh*