A budget is an important commodity to have in your journey towards a debt-free life. It’s even more important to write that budget down with a pencil and paper to ‘mentally engrave’ the figures in your brain.
I use pencil and paper myself to scibe down my budget (see Tools of Success). And I have an excel spreadsheet to back up that data. Then yesterday, I imported all the figures into Mint.com‘s Personal Finance Website. I do love the layout and how easy it process all my figures. I only wish Mint allowed you to budget for a single Cash Account; as I only use one account for budgeting. The other is my bill pay account and then I have a summer savings account.
Enjoy today’s articles where you can dream about the jobs you would do for free, how to deal with a financial catastrophe, preparing for a yard sale, save money on purchasing a home, inspiration for getting out of debt and writing a budget.
Financial Samurai: The List of Jobs I’d Do For Free Baby! I’d have to content with Sam, the Food critic for Michelin and English Teacher in a non-English speaking country would be nice. At one time, I actually contemplated the latter. Why, come to think of it Austin from Foreigner’s Finance is doing just that!
Eliminate the Muda!: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Dealing with Financial Catastrophe has sound advice, especially with “Commit Yourself”. Commit to your financial responsibility to make it out of the catastrophe.
WiseBread: 7 Mistakes that Can Ruin your Yard Sale offers advice how to optimize your yard sale. I always have stuff to get rid of, but not enough to want to host a yard sale. How to fix my dilemma? Pair up with the neighbors! Oh ya, and make a killer Yard Sale sign that one can read as they are driving by!
Don’t forget Garage Sale Tracker is having their iPhone giveaway. Be sure to stop on over to enter!
Little House in the Valley: Recycled Houses…Alternative Living features 3 different ways to save money on purchasing a home. I love watching HGTV feature a house that was built with recycled materials; like using wood from an old barn.
Consumerism Commentary: Smithee Debt Update, Mid-May 2010… I enjoy Smithee’s journey towards debt-freedom and building Net Worth. Its a great read for inspiration.
Deliver Away Debt: Wrote about Stop using a Credit Card, Write a Budget. I couldn’t agree more. If you are not financially savvy, get away from the credit card habit and write your budget down with pencil and paper. The process actually works to make a solid mental note about what needs to be done. Don’t rely on the computer. That’s only back up.
Christine, how’s it going? It’s been a while 😉 Thanks for reminding me about Wisebread…
It is going good. Thank you. It sounds like your trip was successful. Gearing for the long move, huh? Exciting things to look forward to. Just remember to breathe. 🙂
Yes! Got a moving quote today, one tomorrow and then final plans will be made. Whew, I’m nervous, excited, everything at once sometimes!
To Sunny Cali-for-Ni-A! Have fun doing it. Your making a worthy bold move. 😉
I really need to see what mint is all about…. looks very handy. I only have one account too though.
It’s very easy to use. And you can set up the budget to your liking. So that is good. But like I said it combines all cash accounts for your budget and I only budget with one. So, I cannot use it for that feature.
Thanks for mentioning my link! As for Mint, it’s a very cool tool. I don’t use it b/c I use Quickbooks instead, but it seems to have some amazing charts and graphics. I love charts and graphics, I’m such a dork ;).
You’re welcome. The charts are very nice on Mint. And it is a time saver for me to utilize their graphs instead of making my own in Excel. That’s okay being a dork. It took me a long time to accept that fact about myself. 😉 But now that I do, I relish it.
I like the idea of Mint, but it works best for people who use credit and debit to make 99% of their purchases. For the people who use cash it just doesn’t work well. You can spend 3-4 times longer to get mint to work for you than by just using paper and pencil.
I don’t know, mi amigo. I only have one CC on it. And that will soon be gone. If you need it for the budget features it works well. But I am mainly utilizing Mint for their New Worth tally and graph. Keeps me in check.
But of course, we all have our ways that work for us. Like do I really need 3 ways to keep a budget (paper, spreadsheet, Mint)?? LOL. I am hoping that Mint can help to replace my Excel spreadsheet.
That was a great post of yours. 🙂
I too love the pencil and paper approach. I have a beloved spiral notebook that holds all my financial stuff. I have a spreadsheet too for some things, but I do love my notebook best… 🙂
I love a good notebook. If you open my office cupboard, you will see a few spiral notebooks. My daughter has even picked up the same habit. LOL. They are also good for writing down brillant ideas and dreams.
You can post suggestions for Mint.com on their website. It would be interesting to find out how many of your readers use Mint.com or other online applications to track their money.
Thanks for the tip. Maybe Mint will hear my suggestion, too. 🙂
BTW, I am sorry… for some reason your comments always end up in my Spam box. I will need to check it more frequently.
Haha! It’s okay. I won’t take it personally.
I recently tried out mint.com and liked the feel, but it was a bit simple with the reports not being as in depth as I would like. Probably going to write a review about it in the short term. Are you using it regularly now?
I like the ease of the site. You’re right, the reports are simple (not made for us PF junkies, but for the everyday person). 😉
I basically enjoy it because its an easy way to track my Net Worth (especially because the bank account info automatically updates – nice feature) and enjoy my stocks when they are in the green.