How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

jessi405405 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:19:36 GMT

I'm a single mother of 3, all 3 have different fathers also, I did not realize until the past few months how much I depended on that child support to get by every month. One father makes his payment once every six months and the other two fathers were both out of work this summer, so I have been trying to skate by on just my income alone. I thought that I was livign inside my means, I thought I was doing ok, I'm paid well and can't even qualify for any kind of state assistance at all, but MAN!! It has just been struggle. I have been looking for a second job where I can work from home, perhaps online, but I'm so sceptical of most of the "Work from home, Just a few hours a day, Make $250 in your first hour, Process Rebates for us!!" ads. If anyone has advice on the subject of working from home jobs, please help, I would be glad to hear from you.

Also, in an attempt to pay off debts, and raise my credit score, I started using this google gadget. It's from Bizcalcs. It does not store any of your information, it's just like using your windows calculator, but you can print it, or print to file and use the Show Amortization feature that shows you what to pay every month to get your self out of debt. It has proven very usefull.

debt.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

cmichaelo — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:45:12 GMT

My immediate response after having read this article was, "You gotta be kidding! Is $1000 really worth the risk of someone stealing your money or your identity?"

The first round of chills came after the statement "It [Mint] offers an online service that sweeps through your bank, brokerage and credit card accounts". What a casual statement for something so dangerous to your lifesavings and future financial outlook. No sweeping for me, thank you very much.

Second round of chills came after, "You only need to key in log-ins for financial institutions". I like the word "only".

Third round of chills came after, "It does not link account numbers with your name, nor does it offer any way for potential hackers to transfer funds." Well that's a relief. Oh wait. My bank already knows who I am after I supply my userid and password. My name and address is easily found once logged in. What matters is the userid and password. Secondly, once logged in anyone can transfer money as they please.

Personally I would stay completely away from Mint.com. I don't care that it's software that only runs on my computer. I would not trust it.

Michael

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

DJones3423 — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:14:50 GMT

I would never sign up for this service. How crazy to give out all of your personal financial information to someone who you don't know (and it's not even very smart if you do know the person!).

After years of struggling to stay within a budget, I quit using my credit cards entirely, use my debit card sparingly, and stick to a set amount of cash each week. I withdraw the cash from the ATM on Friday and carefully think about each purchase for the next 7 days. All of a sudden, a $10 or $20 purchase seems like so much more than it used to. What do I have to give up to make that formerly "inexpensive" purchase?

This past Saturday, I was at Wal-Mart and had to decide between getting myself a new pair of tennis shoes or buying my daughter the bathing suit that she needed (her old ones don't fit). I looked down at my old shoes and realized that they would hold up another week or two (at least). The new ones looked a lot nicer, but oh well. I also opted for a smaller bag of dog food and put back a few other items to help stay within the budget for the week. On weeks where some money is left over, I stash it to use another time. My husband used to expect me to take out less the next week, but I didn't think that was fair. It only encouraged me to blow all of the money each week instead of trying to save any.

We do make some exceptions to the budget. When I make the 100-mile trek to my hometown to visit and can make it to an Aldi store, I stock up on staples using the debit card if necessary, even if it means going over budget for that week. Then I reduce what I take out in cash for the next couple of weeks to make up for it. If I shop correctly, my trips to Aldi should free up money overall.

Living within your means isn't easy, but it's worth it in the long run. As others have mentioned, Dave Ramsey has a lot of good advice on it. Read his book "The Total Money Makeover." Probably available for free at a library near you!

http://www.daveramsey.com

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

CindyLouWho — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:49:38 GMT

Yes, do check out Dave Ramsey for common sense budgeting! Remember to "act your wage!"

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

appletree_203 — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:30:20 GMT

Anybody ever heard of Dave Ramsey? His "program" (really just more of a frame of mind - get rid of your debt and don't accumulate any more!) has helped my family tremendously.

There is a budget program on the site that sounds somewhat similar, except you don't enter bank account numbers, etc. It's purely just planning purposes - not paying your bills online, etc. It's very helpful and helps you track expenses, etc if you're looking for something more than pen and paper or excel.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

Su Falcon — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:55:09 GMT

Software for managing your personal finances is great--IF you understand the principles behind it. I've had friends who "do all their banking online" who make as much of a mess of it as people who only use a checkbook. To help counter this trend of fiscal illiteracy, I've set up a blog at www.conciseguidelines.com to help educate people on the basics of personal financial management.

Wishing you the best, Su Falcon

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

xenia — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:15:09 GMT

I agree with the LittleWhiteDove.

Also, today hardly anything that is 'free' comes with no strings attached. Look at Google - it's free but it seems to be turning more and more into this Big Brother type of spying and information controlling thing. You can read more about Google unethical practices here:

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

mhs6681 — Sun, 25 May 2008 04:01:36 GMT

I do my own financing for our family and enjoy doing so - love excel! Many people may benefit from something like this though. The key is being committed to your budget - we've always had a budget and I keep track of EVERY cent we spend! I've tried helping friends figure out a budget to get out of debt, but they don't want to change their spending habits.

Some people just don't care enough about getting out of debt cuz it's become such the norm in this country! Sad, but true. Me personally, I hate being in debt. We bought our 1st home 3 years ago (at ages 21 and 23) and our goal is to pay it off in about 5-6 more years - we don't make a lot considering, but we don't go out to movies, spend a lot on going out to eat (mostly cook at home), or spend money on pretty much anything we don't need... others need to learn to do the same. Work within your means.

So many people think everything is just going to be handed to them and don't learn to work for what they want. The gov't adds to that too by just handing over money to people who really don't need it (no offense to those who do cuz I know there are people who really need the help). We have always been hard workers and earn what we have - tithe, pay our taxes, spend wisely - and then we had some friends who were on food stamps and all the gov perks- living off that, but then have cable, high speed internet (which we have neither), they smoke, drink (neither also)... why do our tax dollars pay for all of this? If they can afford all of that, they don't need the gov't money. The system is quite corrupt.

It can be so frustrating watching people get into more and more debt - thinking they are doing good by paying their house off in 30 years so that they get to deduct it from their taxes each year - HELLO people... so you get $200 back from taxes, but you paid $3000 extra in interest!? People are told so much misinformation!

I will stop venting now ;-)

Michelle

http://www.rgnaturalbabies.com

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

Islander — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:28:43 GMT

Folks, this is so elementary that I have done it all my life with a pencil and a 3x5 card. The top number is monthly income. From that you subtract mortgage, groceries, the monthly bills etc. You also track when your auto insurance, real estate taxes, dental visits and other recurring expenses occur and subtract those in the given months. Pay your bills the same day they arrive and you will never "forget" and suffer late fees. What's left at the bottom of the card, if anything, is your discretionary income and my recommendation is to automatically put some in savings.

My checkbook is balanced. My credit card expenses are tracked and reconciled. It's called a budget. It's a no-brainer.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

jelbel — Sat, 24 May 2008 20:39:13 GMT

Littlewhitedove, I wonder if you're right. I thought it was kind of unusual, but didn't even notice the lack of his commentary. And Dr Mercola, bless his heart, ALWAYS has an opinion, so this = Suspicious.

But at least we've learned more from the thread -- duplicated entries, and the savings is from late fees. So thanks to all.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

katy-nan — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:23:38 GMT

the majority of the savings is in late fees. so many people are lazy about paying their bills on time that they are litterally nickled and dimed to death--$25 here and $35 there and such add ups. Having someone remind you what your balance is on your credit card.... that *might* curb spending. For some. Who are smart enough to know that you should not charge what you cannot pay for in 30 days. Or less. I got a new CC and found out it is on a 20 day cycle! So, instead of 12 payments a year--around the same time each month, I get 18 bills per year and the bill comes at different times, is due at different times, and is a true hassle. Guess what? Cancelled the card! it was set up in order to mess up my budget and get the late fees ($35) and interest. Sorry Doc, Mint is *NOT* a good deal. How about cut up the cards, go to a cash system and get a handle on your monthly bills.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

archangel66 — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:50:43 GMT

I am a subscriber. I was less concerned with the security, but the articles written about Mint.com do not mention that it has a HUGE bug in it, which makes it a lot less useless than it claims to be.

If you make a charge on your credit card at say Whole Foods, then Mint will categorize it as "groceries", and at the end of the month you will get a summary how much you spent on groceries. The catch is, that many times it will count this charge TWICE: once when the charge is made, and it is 'Pending" in your online credit card statement, and the second time when it is moved from "Pending".

Some charges get counted twice, some only once, so there is no consistency.

There is a message board at mint.com, where "duplicate charges" are a constant topic. It looks like since Mint has only a limited access to your credit card, they cannot avoid the charges showing up twice.

So the summary on how much you spent on groceries, entertainment, etc. is mostly useless.

A good feature is that it keeps track of all your balances, and it seems to do that well. But if you have only 2-3 credit cards, and one bank account, that is not hard anyway.

I am still amazed how they write glowing articles about Mint without mentioning that it is just not very useful, forget about the security.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

bear342a — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:02:24 GMT

I wouldn't be comfortable doing this either. I can't imagine giving out this information.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

Hassayampa Slim — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:46:21 GMT

Mint is basically an on-line (Web2) finance program, and works similar to Quicken or MS Money. Although, I too am a little paranoid about providing my finance information over the web, this is the direction things are going. The Mint site says that they do not save any personal information other than your email address, and that the program is "read only" and cannot be used to actually move or withdraw money. (Something that you can do with Quicken and MS Money.) These free services, like Google's GMail, or Yahoo's EMail, are all on-line programs and are funded from the advertising that they sell to companies. The programs all have "key word" methods of matching advertisers to people doing related transactions. Still think I'll stay with Quicken, as I have gotten into the habit of keeping it updated and prefer the ability to actually pay bills and move money. But for someone who uses credit or debit cards for almost all of their transactions, Mint is probably an easy way to keep your finance data up to date with little work.

re: How to Easily Track Your Budget and Save Money

springolife — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:34:30 GMT

Yeah, at first I thought "This is cool" till I realized that you're giving personal banking info and passwords. How dangerous is that!!!! Yahoo doesn't even recommend you give your email passwords to group managers, why in the world would I give my financial info like that?!