Last months budget ended up terrible! We did have any money left over in our "get out of debt" fund to pay bills this month, and we even over spent a few envelopes!! I made a miscalculation with my wifes checks, One was significantly smaller then usual, and I thought she was getting 3 checks last month (instead of 2) but it is this month that she gets the extra check.
To make a long story short we blew it, but we're back on track this month right now.
In other news, I've talked about swatcash here before and after giving it a try for over a month now all I can say is wow!! This site is great and there really is money to be made here. You won't get rich quick, and you won't be able to quit your job, but they make it fun to make money! I've made $70.91 so far in a month. Now that isn't a lot of money, but I had fun doing it and the further you get into it the better it gets! I really love this site!
Sunday, September 7
Sunday, August 10
One month of budgeting
Well our first month of budgeting is under our belts now and I can freely tell you that it wasn't easy at all. At first we kept strict reigns on the money because we have the "fresh" motivation to turn our "debt lifestyle" around, but towards the end things got a little harder.
At the end of the month in our "get-out-of-debt" enevelope we ended up with $512.21 extra to put on my student loan. Which sounds great, and it is, but we had about $640 in that envelope that we ended up spending (and now I'm kicking myself for it!)
This month is looking to be promising though. I get 5 checks this month (5 fridays) and my wife gets an extra check as well so both of those are going to go straight on the debt. Hopefully at the end of this month we'll have $500 from our "normal" monthly extra, plus my check, and my wifes check to put on the debt. We're hoping for about $1400 extra to pay on the debt this month if we're diligent about not spending money that isn't budgeted.
Our first "extra" payment will go out this month (the money saved from last month) and I think it will go on my student loan because of the higher interest rate then the Jeep (and they're close enough that I feel comfortable paying it down first).
Hopefully budgeting gets easier as we get more used to what we have and what we don't have to spend.
Jesse
At the end of the month in our "get-out-of-debt" enevelope we ended up with $512.21 extra to put on my student loan. Which sounds great, and it is, but we had about $640 in that envelope that we ended up spending (and now I'm kicking myself for it!)
This month is looking to be promising though. I get 5 checks this month (5 fridays) and my wife gets an extra check as well so both of those are going to go straight on the debt. Hopefully at the end of this month we'll have $500 from our "normal" monthly extra, plus my check, and my wifes check to put on the debt. We're hoping for about $1400 extra to pay on the debt this month if we're diligent about not spending money that isn't budgeted.
Our first "extra" payment will go out this month (the money saved from last month) and I think it will go on my student loan because of the higher interest rate then the Jeep (and they're close enough that I feel comfortable paying it down first).
Hopefully budgeting gets easier as we get more used to what we have and what we don't have to spend.
Jesse
Thursday, July 31
Make a little extra money online
I've looked all over for ways to make a little extra money online in the evenings after work. I was just looking for a little bit of money that I can play around with, have some extra fun, and just get a little extra money. I'm going to outline the best ones I've found so far so you can take advantage of them too!
Adsense: Hasn't made me squat. I know it works well for some people, but this blog just doesn't have the traffic required to make that a viable option. Last time I checked I didn't even have one click on my ads. Don't bother with this unless you have a high traffic site.
Online Surveys: I've actually made some alright money with this. These won't make you super rich and you definitely won't be able to quit your day job with this but I made $18.50 taking surveys this money that I actually got in check or paypal form. I've taken enough surveys to get another $7 once I cash them out. I basically use 3 survey sites because they all pay out in cash (not prizes). I use Pinecone research as my first choice. This doesn't give the volumes that I get on the other sites but they pay $3 per survey. You'll have to find a sign up link on google, they don't publish it on their website. My next choice is Lightspeed Panel they pay with paypal so when you cash out you get the money right away. I like this site because they have a wide variety of prizes AND you can take cash options if thats what you want. Thirdly, I use Opinion Outpost which I like a lot too.
Pay-to-click emails and offers and other things: This seems to be working alright for me actually. This is quite a bit more work then the instant feedback you get from surveys (money right away) because with these sites you usually have to work your account up a little bit.
The first one I use and the one I'm the most experienced with is Inbox Dollars and I have $22 in my account so far. I haven't used any "pay offers" and have made that money soley on their "free offers" and clicking emails every day. I need $30 to cash out and get my first payment. I really like this site because they offer a "cash back" for online shopping and there are a LOT of merchants like newegg, dicks, old navy, gap, the apple store, and many other small specialty stores. This website is a great deal if you shop online often, and if you don't it could still pay off pretty well. Like I said, I've got $22 in my account without doing any shopping! Best of all all new users get $5 instantly for signing up!
The second site I use that falls into this category is Treasure Trooper. This site is very similiar to Inbox Dollars but is a little more fun. They pay but they also have "treasure" that adds a little bit of a fun aspect to the site and the shopping. With enough treasure you can buy things like clues into their forum hunt for real $$, ipods, xbox360s, and other things like referrals. I've gotten $15 into my account with this every easily. They payout at $20!
I hope you try these out and make some money for yourself. It is really easy to do and it's a great way to make a little extra fun money in the evenings after work!
Adsense: Hasn't made me squat. I know it works well for some people, but this blog just doesn't have the traffic required to make that a viable option. Last time I checked I didn't even have one click on my ads. Don't bother with this unless you have a high traffic site.
Online Surveys: I've actually made some alright money with this. These won't make you super rich and you definitely won't be able to quit your day job with this but I made $18.50 taking surveys this money that I actually got in check or paypal form. I've taken enough surveys to get another $7 once I cash them out. I basically use 3 survey sites because they all pay out in cash (not prizes). I use Pinecone research as my first choice. This doesn't give the volumes that I get on the other sites but they pay $3 per survey. You'll have to find a sign up link on google, they don't publish it on their website. My next choice is Lightspeed Panel they pay with paypal so when you cash out you get the money right away. I like this site because they have a wide variety of prizes AND you can take cash options if thats what you want. Thirdly, I use Opinion Outpost which I like a lot too.
Pay-to-click emails and offers and other things: This seems to be working alright for me actually. This is quite a bit more work then the instant feedback you get from surveys (money right away) because with these sites you usually have to work your account up a little bit.
The first one I use and the one I'm the most experienced with is Inbox Dollars and I have $22 in my account so far. I haven't used any "pay offers" and have made that money soley on their "free offers" and clicking emails every day. I need $30 to cash out and get my first payment. I really like this site because they offer a "cash back" for online shopping and there are a LOT of merchants like newegg, dicks, old navy, gap, the apple store, and many other small specialty stores. This website is a great deal if you shop online often, and if you don't it could still pay off pretty well. Like I said, I've got $22 in my account without doing any shopping! Best of all all new users get $5 instantly for signing up!
The second site I use that falls into this category is Treasure Trooper. This site is very similiar to Inbox Dollars but is a little more fun. They pay but they also have "treasure" that adds a little bit of a fun aspect to the site and the shopping. With enough treasure you can buy things like clues into their forum hunt for real $$, ipods, xbox360s, and other things like referrals. I've gotten $15 into my account with this every easily. They payout at $20!
I hope you try these out and make some money for yourself. It is really easy to do and it's a great way to make a little extra fun money in the evenings after work!
Tuesday, July 22
Yes, You Can Get a Financial Life
So I'm about half way through reading Yes, You Can Get a Financial Life by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth and I must say that it is a very good read.
The book is geared towards younger people trying to get their financial future set up early. It teaches the dangers of credit cards, but doesn't describe them as pure evil like Dave Ramsey in his book Total Money Makeover. I still think I like Dave's philosophy better, but this book does stress to be extremely careful. Dave wants people to pay cash for everything, while this book recognizes that 90% of people won't be able to pay cash for their house.
I like this book a lot because it still stresses the right points about not buying things you can't afford (especially houses), but it doesn't say go buy a mobile home either. There is a really good balance in the book. This book isn't geared towards getting out of debt like Dave's book, so it gives a very high level but good advice on investing retirement savings. The book also gives excellent advice (like Dave's) on insurance and while it doesn't paint whole life insurance as the devil like Dave does, it does highly advise you just get term life insurance and keep it simple (and cheap).
Don't take financial advice from someone that isn't where you want to be. Read some books from authors that have money, don't take advice from aunt edna that doesn't have 2 million in the bank, don't take advice from uncle darrell that is still working at 75. Read some of these books from authors that have money and know how to keep it. Ben Stein is well known for having money. Dave Ramsey doesn't keep it a secret that he's a millionaire. Take advice from the people that are where you want to be. Read some of these books (get them at the library for free...its what you pay taxes for!)
The book is geared towards younger people trying to get their financial future set up early. It teaches the dangers of credit cards, but doesn't describe them as pure evil like Dave Ramsey in his book Total Money Makeover. I still think I like Dave's philosophy better, but this book does stress to be extremely careful. Dave wants people to pay cash for everything, while this book recognizes that 90% of people won't be able to pay cash for their house.
I like this book a lot because it still stresses the right points about not buying things you can't afford (especially houses), but it doesn't say go buy a mobile home either. There is a really good balance in the book. This book isn't geared towards getting out of debt like Dave's book, so it gives a very high level but good advice on investing retirement savings. The book also gives excellent advice (like Dave's) on insurance and while it doesn't paint whole life insurance as the devil like Dave does, it does highly advise you just get term life insurance and keep it simple (and cheap).
Don't take financial advice from someone that isn't where you want to be. Read some books from authors that have money, don't take advice from aunt edna that doesn't have 2 million in the bank, don't take advice from uncle darrell that is still working at 75. Read some of these books from authors that have money and know how to keep it. Ben Stein is well known for having money. Dave Ramsey doesn't keep it a secret that he's a millionaire. Take advice from the people that are where you want to be. Read some of these books (get them at the library for free...its what you pay taxes for!)
Sunday, July 20
Blew the budget!
If you haven't been keeping up, my wife and I are on a mission to get out of debt. We're still over $30,000 in debt, but we've made a commitment to each other that we're getting out. next month our first "extra payments" will officially go on our debt, I'm really stoked about that. This month is the first month we're on a budget and it has been rough!
We're on a basic envelope budgeting system and we've broke to rules twice this week! With our system our "fun money" doesn't get funded until the end of the month because it assumes that there will be carry over from the previous month. Well to make a long story short we spent all $100 that gets put into our fun budget this week and that enevelope doesn't get officially funded until next week! We also blew all the extra tip money my wife made on a movie and a date last night (The Dark Knight is awesome by the way!). This week has been rough for our budget. We haven't dipped into our "get out of debt envelope" yet which is a good thing, be we took a "budget advance" which is not a good thing.
Hopefully next month we'll get it under control and avoid doing anything like that. So what did we blow our budget on? A Wii Fit. We went to Wal-mart and they had 5 of them. We just couldn't resist. We both wanted one and gave in to temptation (since they're like impossible to find right now)
We're on a basic envelope budgeting system and we've broke to rules twice this week! With our system our "fun money" doesn't get funded until the end of the month because it assumes that there will be carry over from the previous month. Well to make a long story short we spent all $100 that gets put into our fun budget this week and that enevelope doesn't get officially funded until next week! We also blew all the extra tip money my wife made on a movie and a date last night (The Dark Knight is awesome by the way!). This week has been rough for our budget. We haven't dipped into our "get out of debt envelope" yet which is a good thing, be we took a "budget advance" which is not a good thing.
Hopefully next month we'll get it under control and avoid doing anything like that. So what did we blow our budget on? A Wii Fit. We went to Wal-mart and they had 5 of them. We just couldn't resist. We both wanted one and gave in to temptation (since they're like impossible to find right now)
Tuesday, July 15
This budget stuff!!
So this budget stuff is harder then it sounds! I'm so used to living with a very loose budget that tightening it down is a little stressful. Just little expenses, things I want on a whim, are no longer possible and it is slightly stressful!
We're doing good even though we've already had an unbudgeted unexpected expense. I canceled my cellphone last month and got a bill this month for it still which I forgot I was going to be getting so we had a $40 unexpected bill come in. We squeezed it from a little "fat" in the gas and food budget, but it is still going to be pretty tight.
Life on a budget saves money, but it sure is stressful!!
We're doing good even though we've already had an unbudgeted unexpected expense. I canceled my cellphone last month and got a bill this month for it still which I forgot I was going to be getting so we had a $40 unexpected bill come in. We squeezed it from a little "fat" in the gas and food budget, but it is still going to be pretty tight.
Life on a budget saves money, but it sure is stressful!!
Friday, July 11
First Items were a bust!
So I put my first items up on eBay last weekend and it was awful, absolutely terrible. Out of the things I posted not only did nothing sell, but eBay canceled all my auctions! Now this is partially my fault and partially their fault and it took me all week to get everything worked out. I am primarily going to be dealing in Weapons ala Swords and Knives. I love swords and knives and I dream about fighting in medieval times. I know hollywood has glorified it all, but what I would give to be a British Archer or a Scottish Noble Swordsman.
My first items that I was trying to sell was Wolverine claws. They look awesome and I was going to make a good bit of profit on the sale of each one. I even had bids so I know they were going to sell!!! But ebay decided to tell me that it was against their policy to sell items that have 3 or more points, which include claws :-( Even though that isn't listed in their prohibited items page.
Nevertheless I moved on to other swords and posted them tonight after everything finially got resolved, although not to my liking. If anyone would like to purchase a set of claws I can send you a few pictures, $40 shipped (US only) for one pair, $65 for two.
I have listed some Lord of the Rings replica swords and I'll be listing some more tomorrow as well. You can look for them on ebay, my seller name is jhildebrand2007. Look me up if you're interested in swords!
My first items that I was trying to sell was Wolverine claws. They look awesome and I was going to make a good bit of profit on the sale of each one. I even had bids so I know they were going to sell!!! But ebay decided to tell me that it was against their policy to sell items that have 3 or more points, which include claws :-( Even though that isn't listed in their prohibited items page.
Nevertheless I moved on to other swords and posted them tonight after everything finially got resolved, although not to my liking. If anyone would like to purchase a set of claws I can send you a few pictures, $40 shipped (US only) for one pair, $65 for two.I have listed some Lord of the Rings replica swords and I'll be listing some more tomorrow as well. You can look for them on ebay, my seller name is jhildebrand2007. Look me up if you're interested in swords!
Wednesday, July 9
Saving money? Get free stuff!
While at work today I saw a guy that I work with had 3 books on the stock market in his cube. I asked him if he had read them, and when he said that he had I asked him how they were. He said they were alright but he couldn't ever get out of debt enough to have money to put into the stock market, so they were pretty much a waste for him. I asked him if I could read them and he GAVE them to me. He told me to take them home, he didn't want them anymore! I could have gone to the library and did the same thing, but I own these books now! All because I asked a question and have a 5 minute conversation. It was worth it!
Also recently I've been on this kick about signing up for free samples. There are MANY websites out there to find free sample on, and while most of these are marketing schemes to get you to buy more of their products, you're ultimately in control of what you buy and you're getting free stuff! I like getting free stuff, and normally it isn't stuff I'd spend my money on anyways, but every now and then you can try free laundry detergent or free shampoo or body wash which just saves you money from not having to buy more of your "regular" when you can use the free stuff.
I may find that I regret giving my address out to all these companies, but it is easy to just throw things away. I don't let junk mail bother me, it isn't worth it!
Also recently I've been on this kick about signing up for free samples. There are MANY websites out there to find free sample on, and while most of these are marketing schemes to get you to buy more of their products, you're ultimately in control of what you buy and you're getting free stuff! I like getting free stuff, and normally it isn't stuff I'd spend my money on anyways, but every now and then you can try free laundry detergent or free shampoo or body wash which just saves you money from not having to buy more of your "regular" when you can use the free stuff.
I may find that I regret giving my address out to all these companies, but it is easy to just throw things away. I don't let junk mail bother me, it isn't worth it!
Tuesday, July 8
Online Surveys for money
So recently I got involved in doing online surveys for a little extra money. Now this is definitely no get rich quick scheme, but if you have a little extra time in the evenings it can be a little extra money in your pocket. I've so far been using two survey places online. These two seemed to be the best ones when I was looking, and they have CASH payouts instead of just cheap junk that you get by amassing points.
The first is PineCone Research. You will have to search around for a "join" link (there isn't one on their homepage for some reason?!?) but it should be pretty easy to find. So far I've only gotten 1 survey from them, and I hear the average is 3-5 per month. They pay out $3 for each survey, and when you complete one they cut you a check and mail it. Seems pretty straightforward to me, though I haven't received my first payment yet.
The second one I use is Lightspeed Panel. You will have to allow popups after selecting a country because it opens in another window. This survey site gives you "points" for each survey you fill out, and once you get 575 points you can request a $5 paypal transfer or a $5 amazon gift card (a long with MANY other options). The surveys are between 150-500 points each and generally take about 15 minutes. I have recieved $5 in my paypal using this company so far so they are definately legit.
If you know of any other good options please send them my way. These two are the best I've found so far!
The first is PineCone Research. You will have to search around for a "join" link (there isn't one on their homepage for some reason?!?) but it should be pretty easy to find. So far I've only gotten 1 survey from them, and I hear the average is 3-5 per month. They pay out $3 for each survey, and when you complete one they cut you a check and mail it. Seems pretty straightforward to me, though I haven't received my first payment yet.
The second one I use is Lightspeed Panel. You will have to allow popups after selecting a country because it opens in another window. This survey site gives you "points" for each survey you fill out, and once you get 575 points you can request a $5 paypal transfer or a $5 amazon gift card (a long with MANY other options). The surveys are between 150-500 points each and generally take about 15 minutes. I have recieved $5 in my paypal using this company so far so they are definately legit.
If you know of any other good options please send them my way. These two are the best I've found so far!
Monday, July 7
Starting a new business
So after all is said and done my paycheck covers all of our bills and debt right now to the dime, literally we have a negative $-0.10 monthly income with my job. Now this varies from month to month because of certain non-uniform utility bills like water and electricity, but on average this is what my check covers, not including any spending money for my wife and I.
Luckily my wife works part time and brings home about $700 a month extra that we use for all of our extraneous expenditures. She doesn't always work the same amount of hours though so this varies a little as well, but you get the idea.
I decided I needed extra income to pay my debts off as fast as I could! I want out from under them as fast as I can possibly manage it, gazelle intensity (to borrow from Dave Ramsey). So I needed to do something, and this is what I decided on!
I tell you all of that to premise my decision to start a business. Starting a business is always something I've wanted to do, so I thought I'd jump in feet first and give it a try. I live in Arizona so I filled out their forms to because a licensed reseller, paid my $17, and hopefully within two weeks I'll have my business license. Now the catch here is that I still have my normal 9-5 job that pays the bills, and I need to keep it, at least for now while I build the business up.
My first items are going up on ebay soon! So i'll occasionally report back how the business is shaping up. If it completely flops I'm out like $17 for my business license and it is a lesson learned.
Luckily my wife works part time and brings home about $700 a month extra that we use for all of our extraneous expenditures. She doesn't always work the same amount of hours though so this varies a little as well, but you get the idea.
I decided I needed extra income to pay my debts off as fast as I could! I want out from under them as fast as I can possibly manage it, gazelle intensity (to borrow from Dave Ramsey). So I needed to do something, and this is what I decided on!
I tell you all of that to premise my decision to start a business. Starting a business is always something I've wanted to do, so I thought I'd jump in feet first and give it a try. I live in Arizona so I filled out their forms to because a licensed reseller, paid my $17, and hopefully within two weeks I'll have my business license. Now the catch here is that I still have my normal 9-5 job that pays the bills, and I need to keep it, at least for now while I build the business up.
The Business
so one of my personal stipulations for making some extra money to get out of debt was that I didn't want it to take away from my time with my wife. We've only been married 6 months so this is a very important time in our lives to spend together (not that it isn't always important). I decided the best way to make a little extra money was to work from home so that I can still be around for my wife and we can still spend it together even if I'm "working".
I decided on an eBay business. I'm going to sell things on eBay, and hopefully make 20% profit (about 10% after eBay and Paypal fees) reselling through a wholesale dropshipper. I also plan to supplement this with items I pick up at yard sales, and being in a large metro area there are always sales. I plan to make 100% profit or more on things I buy at yard sales if I can find the right items, this is my goal anyways. I haven't gotten all the details worked out, and even if I only make $50 a month thats fine with me. I just needed something to do to make a little more income.
I decided on an eBay business. I'm going to sell things on eBay, and hopefully make 20% profit (about 10% after eBay and Paypal fees) reselling through a wholesale dropshipper. I also plan to supplement this with items I pick up at yard sales, and being in a large metro area there are always sales. I plan to make 100% profit or more on things I buy at yard sales if I can find the right items, this is my goal anyways. I haven't gotten all the details worked out, and even if I only make $50 a month thats fine with me. I just needed something to do to make a little more income.
My first items are going up on ebay soon! So i'll occasionally report back how the business is shaping up. If it completely flops I'm out like $17 for my business license and it is a lesson learned.
Friday, July 4
First day of the budget!
So, Being that it is Friday now I officially have my first paycheck that gets budgeted! How exciting! I'm a little fearful of this next month because I'm not sure that the budget is designed for all the "little things" that come up every month or things I just plainly overlooked.
My budget is basically broken down into a few categories, Tomorrow I'll be going over them specifically to outline exactly how we're breaking our money up and hopefully someone can comment if I've left anything out! The basic categories are:
Utilities
Rent
Car Payments
Insurance
Groceries
Gas
Fun Money
This week has been pretty stressful because I made sure to empty my checking account to start from a 0 balance (actually there was $3 in the account, but close enough). I socked everything else away into an emergency fund ($1000). I'm not used to not having even just a little money to flutter away! I couldn't even buy anything at the cafeteria at work which I usually do once a week, it was just weird and it was always in my mind that there was NO MONEY in the account to spend.
Also another thing is the way I've split the budget, some envelopes only get paid once a month their full amount, like our fun money, except that it is the LAST week of the month (because it assumed carry over into the next month) only there is no carry over this month so it will be pretty tough to stick to our budget when we don't even have a little room this month because of out fun money envelope not being funded!
My budget is basically broken down into a few categories, Tomorrow I'll be going over them specifically to outline exactly how we're breaking our money up and hopefully someone can comment if I've left anything out! The basic categories are:
Utilities
Rent
Car Payments
Insurance
Groceries
Gas
Fun Money
This week has been pretty stressful because I made sure to empty my checking account to start from a 0 balance (actually there was $3 in the account, but close enough). I socked everything else away into an emergency fund ($1000). I'm not used to not having even just a little money to flutter away! I couldn't even buy anything at the cafeteria at work which I usually do once a week, it was just weird and it was always in my mind that there was NO MONEY in the account to spend.
Also another thing is the way I've split the budget, some envelopes only get paid once a month their full amount, like our fun money, except that it is the LAST week of the month (because it assumed carry over into the next month) only there is no carry over this month so it will be pretty tough to stick to our budget when we don't even have a little room this month because of out fun money envelope not being funded!
Wednesday, July 2
Credit Blues
If you're like most people (at least most people in America) you're raised to think you need credit to survive. The older I get (though I'm not "old" yet) I am starting to think that it is nearly unnecessary and that it is a waste of money and is what is keeping households from ever having "enough" money. Think about your situation; What would you do if you didn't have any debts to pay? How much extra money would you have every month? I know for me 27% of my income every month immediately goes out in minimum payments on credit and honestly that is quite low compared to most families!
Now I don't have a mortgage yet so that 27% was figured without a mortgage, figure what most experts say at 1/3 of your income for housing so 33%, that totals 60% of my income going right back out just to support a lifestyle I obviously can't afford because I had to put it on credit!
This blog is all about getting out of debt, and many of the posts will be about my personal struggles and trials of living frugally and cheaply in an attempt to pay off my debts before their scheduled payoff in 2017, though some will be about things I do on the side to supplement my income from my 9-5 job or other useful or interesting things that have to do with this topic.
I am in no sense a financial expert, I'm just a normal guy trying to cut back and do everything I can to get out of debt and get my finances out of control. Leave me some comments if you have any questions regarding anything covered here and I'll answer back. I'm going to document everything that I find that works and everything that doesn't so hopefully someone out there will find this useful and get their finances under control too.
Jesse
Now I don't have a mortgage yet so that 27% was figured without a mortgage, figure what most experts say at 1/3 of your income for housing so 33%, that totals 60% of my income going right back out just to support a lifestyle I obviously can't afford because I had to put it on credit!
This blog is all about getting out of debt, and many of the posts will be about my personal struggles and trials of living frugally and cheaply in an attempt to pay off my debts before their scheduled payoff in 2017, though some will be about things I do on the side to supplement my income from my 9-5 job or other useful or interesting things that have to do with this topic.
I am in no sense a financial expert, I'm just a normal guy trying to cut back and do everything I can to get out of debt and get my finances out of control. Leave me some comments if you have any questions regarding anything covered here and I'll answer back. I'm going to document everything that I find that works and everything that doesn't so hopefully someone out there will find this useful and get their finances under control too.
Jesse
Tuesday, July 1
Useful Online Budgeting Tool
Mint is a favorite budgeting tool of mine. This is in no way a sponsored advertisement, I'm just endorsing the tool because I like it a lot and I think it is extremely useful for getting on and sticking to a budget. The tool interfaces with your bank information (very securely!) using the same encryption that the major banks use. When I say interfaces I mean it actually goes to your online banking website and downloads all the information into mint and separates the charges into categories (to the best of its ability). I had to go in and change some manually, but once you do this a few times mint "learns" what certain charges look like and can place them in the categories automatically!
I use this tool primarily to interface with my Chase account which it does very well, and currently my only other account is an ING Direct online savings account which is having some problems due to ING's recently login change. I have categories set up in my account that break expenses down into various categories and mint automatically loads my charges and categorizes them every evening and tells me how much I have left in that category.
Just FYI this is not a picture of my budget, this is just one of the pictures they had on their website.One other thing I love about mint is that I can access it ANYWHERE that I have access to the internet. It isn't stuck at home while I'm across the country visiting my parents, it isn't stuck at home while I'm away on business, it is extremely flexible to my schedule because I can always access it!
Another of mints greats features is that it alerts me to changes in the account. It tells me when I've gone over budget, when deposits are available at the bank, when my bills are due, and more. It is wonderful, and I highly recommend it if you're trying to budget your money and just don't know where to start.
I really like this tool and I think that you will too if you give it a chance. The BEST thing about the tool though is that is absolutely free! 100% free!
Jesse
Monday, June 30
Budgetting
I know this is something that your mother told you that you needed to do, and if she didn't she should have. This is extremely important! I never realized how much money my wife and I waste, yes WASTE, every month by not being on a budget. Let me put this into perspective. After putting our monthly income on a budget I found that we WASTE almost $500 a month! 500 dollars!
I sat down one weekend and scoured all of my old saved utility bills, electric, rent, water, phone, internet, etc and separated each one, added 12 months of them together and divided by 12 to get a "monthly average over a year" then recorded this number on a piece of paper. After all the normal "bills" were done into monthly averages, car payments, utilities, rent, credit card, etc. I sat down with my bank statements, this part took awhile. I needed to figure out how much we spent on gas and groceries. I looked at statements and averaged and looked at more statements and averaged some more.
Many people recommend the "envelope system" which is basically taking your money that you have budgeted and putting it into an envelope and if there is no money in the envelope you can't buy anything from that "area" whether it be groceries, gas, or going out to eat (and if you do you have to "rob" another envelope to cover it). This system works pretty will in a cash society where everyone uses cash, When trying to budget I realized this would be a pain for us because our check are direct deposited into the bank (like most people) and we never see the cash so putting it into envelopes is tricky. We decided the best thing to do was put play money in the envelopes as a place holder and make sure we're diligent to remove it when we spend something, even $1 in that category.
Like I said, budgeting our income showed me that we have a surplus of almost $500 that doesn't go towards bills, groceries, gas, insurance, car repairs, or doctors bills and that usually just disappears throughout the month. We've decided to take this extra $500 and apply it to our debts to expedite the process of getting out of debt (without extra payments and without adding more we're scheduled to be out of debt in 2017...no thanks!)
Basically I highly recommend getting on a budget, as will EVERY OTHER financial counselor you will ever talk to! This is the only way to track your expenses and the cut frivolous spending. You don't have to use the envelope system I outlined, but use something! Any budgeting system you can find that works for you is better then none at all!
Stop in tomorrow to read my review of an online budgeting tool that I have used and is really great! It automates much of the process, I just found a manual process held us more accountable to our spending. If you like online banking this tool might work for you!
Jesse
I sat down one weekend and scoured all of my old saved utility bills, electric, rent, water, phone, internet, etc and separated each one, added 12 months of them together and divided by 12 to get a "monthly average over a year" then recorded this number on a piece of paper. After all the normal "bills" were done into monthly averages, car payments, utilities, rent, credit card, etc. I sat down with my bank statements, this part took awhile. I needed to figure out how much we spent on gas and groceries. I looked at statements and averaged and looked at more statements and averaged some more.
Many people recommend the "envelope system" which is basically taking your money that you have budgeted and putting it into an envelope and if there is no money in the envelope you can't buy anything from that "area" whether it be groceries, gas, or going out to eat (and if you do you have to "rob" another envelope to cover it). This system works pretty will in a cash society where everyone uses cash, When trying to budget I realized this would be a pain for us because our check are direct deposited into the bank (like most people) and we never see the cash so putting it into envelopes is tricky. We decided the best thing to do was put play money in the envelopes as a place holder and make sure we're diligent to remove it when we spend something, even $1 in that category.
Like I said, budgeting our income showed me that we have a surplus of almost $500 that doesn't go towards bills, groceries, gas, insurance, car repairs, or doctors bills and that usually just disappears throughout the month. We've decided to take this extra $500 and apply it to our debts to expedite the process of getting out of debt (without extra payments and without adding more we're scheduled to be out of debt in 2017...no thanks!)
Basically I highly recommend getting on a budget, as will EVERY OTHER financial counselor you will ever talk to! This is the only way to track your expenses and the cut frivolous spending. You don't have to use the envelope system I outlined, but use something! Any budgeting system you can find that works for you is better then none at all!
Stop in tomorrow to read my review of an online budgeting tool that I have used and is really great! It automates much of the process, I just found a manual process held us more accountable to our spending. If you like online banking this tool might work for you!
Jesse
Sunday, June 29
First post and introductions
I just wanted to start my first post introducing myself. I'm Jesse, nice to meet you. This blog is about money. There isn't going to be any "get rich quick" things in here...ever. I may write about things that will make you a little money here or there, or something that you can do to get an extra 5 or 10 bucks every week or month, but mainly I'm going to give advice about what to do with your best wealth builder -- your income from your job.
I want to let everyone know in the first post (like anyone is going to read this anyways :-P...but one can hope!) that I am not rich, I'm not a rich guy telling you how to become rich like me, though someday I hope to be in that situation. I'm an ordinary guy with a job and a wife (no kids yet, but someday). I'm an ordinary guy working to get out of debt. I'm an ordinary guy that bought into the lies of American society that said I could buy whatever I want now and worry about paying for it later. What is not ordinary about me is that I grabbed my incoming money by the throat and decided that I want to be in control instead of money being in control of me.
I recently read a book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover and I would recommend this book to anybody that wants to turn their financial life around. He doesn't give you any "get rich schemes" and you aren't going to find many here either. He does show you how to get out of debt and get a control on your money and your life.
Many of the ideas I present here are from his book and others and if you keep returning to my blog you will see my progression as I work my way through his ideas and the ideas of others on my way to financial freedom. If you keep stopping in you'll see me work my way to ZERO debt and then my life after (which right now I can't imagine what it will be like). Please follow a long with me as I work through this journey, encourage me in my comments, and I'll try to be an encouragement to you through my posts.
I'm going to give a small overview of my financial situation as a starting point to my story. My wife an I are recently married and determined to get out of debt and stay out of debt forever. We currently have only 3 debts which amount to almost $35,000 in debt. Our 3 debts are:
Truck: $2800
Jeep: $14,500
Student Loan: $17,500
It seemed at the end of the month that we had just enough money left over to pay the minimum payments and never any extra. We lived with no budget and only "rough figures" in my head. I never overspent to the point I wasn't able to make the minimum payments, but I never kept enough control to pay more.
This month will be our first month with a plan and a desire to get out of debt. Tomorrow's post will be about our budget. This coming week will be the first paychecks that will be put into our budget, and this next month will be the first month I have some control of our finances. I've decided early in our marriage that I don't want to let money be something that will cause arguments and luckily my wife is on board too. Check back tomorrow for our budget.
I want to let everyone know in the first post (like anyone is going to read this anyways :-P...but one can hope!) that I am not rich, I'm not a rich guy telling you how to become rich like me, though someday I hope to be in that situation. I'm an ordinary guy with a job and a wife (no kids yet, but someday). I'm an ordinary guy working to get out of debt. I'm an ordinary guy that bought into the lies of American society that said I could buy whatever I want now and worry about paying for it later. What is not ordinary about me is that I grabbed my incoming money by the throat and decided that I want to be in control instead of money being in control of me.
I recently read a book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover and I would recommend this book to anybody that wants to turn their financial life around. He doesn't give you any "get rich schemes" and you aren't going to find many here either. He does show you how to get out of debt and get a control on your money and your life.
Many of the ideas I present here are from his book and others and if you keep returning to my blog you will see my progression as I work my way through his ideas and the ideas of others on my way to financial freedom. If you keep stopping in you'll see me work my way to ZERO debt and then my life after (which right now I can't imagine what it will be like). Please follow a long with me as I work through this journey, encourage me in my comments, and I'll try to be an encouragement to you through my posts.
I'm going to give a small overview of my financial situation as a starting point to my story. My wife an I are recently married and determined to get out of debt and stay out of debt forever. We currently have only 3 debts which amount to almost $35,000 in debt. Our 3 debts are:
Truck: $2800
Jeep: $14,500
Student Loan: $17,500
It seemed at the end of the month that we had just enough money left over to pay the minimum payments and never any extra. We lived with no budget and only "rough figures" in my head. I never overspent to the point I wasn't able to make the minimum payments, but I never kept enough control to pay more.
This month will be our first month with a plan and a desire to get out of debt. Tomorrow's post will be about our budget. This coming week will be the first paychecks that will be put into our budget, and this next month will be the first month I have some control of our finances. I've decided early in our marriage that I don't want to let money be something that will cause arguments and luckily my wife is on board too. Check back tomorrow for our budget.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
