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Budgeting Software Options

When it comes to money management and computer software two programs quickly come to mind: Microsoft Money and Quicken. While these programs are good, I have used both of them, I still find that there are things that I wish I could change about the programs. If you feel this way it may mean that it is time to start thinking outside of the computer budget box. One option that you can do is create your own zero dollar budget online using Excel. If you do this you should have a basic understanding of spreadsheets and what you can accomplish … Continue reading →

Budgets and Diets

For me, a budget is much like a diet. You start off motivated with a new plan and then it loses its luster and you are back off of it. Some call it yo-yo dieting, in this case, we will call it yo-yo budgeting. Whether it is a diet or a budget, the general concept is to control calories or spending enabling you to lose weight or manage your money. One of the reasons so many diets fail is the initial excitement wears off and the process becomes too time consuming. This can also be true of a budget. The … Continue reading →

Budgeting Time Savers

One reason many people hate budgeting is because it is time consuming. It can take an hour to balance your checkbook each month, especially if you can’t find the one mistake that you made. It is more difficult than just balancing your checkbook, since you need a constant running total of what you have spent where. It usually falls on the shoulders of one spouse, who then becomes resentful about having to deal with it all the time. While the initial planning and setting up of your budget may take awhile (sorry there is no way around it), here are … Continue reading →

Setting Up a Realistic Budget

One reason that budgeting fails for so many people is that they set up unrealistic budgets. Often they may sit down and arbitrarily decide how much they should spend on each category. They may not take into account once a year expenses, and they may not plan for emergencies. Or they may cut the amounts they spend too drastically, and blow the budget in a week or two, and then just give up all together. Here are five tips to set up a realistic budget. 1) Track your spending for a month. If you use mainly debit cards and the … Continue reading →

Four Ways to Track Your Expenses

Do you track your expenses? This can be a lot of work. It is important to do however. You do have several options available to you, when it comes to tracking your expenses. One reason that you should track your spending is that it is difficult to find where you are overspending, if you are not aware of where the money is going. Here are several options available to you: 1) You can keep a written ledger of all your expenses. “Rich on Any Income” has a great program that you can do this on. It fits directly into your … Continue reading →