Budget billing: it works for us

                              We signed up for budget billing with our electric company a good number of years back and that is our sole experience with budget billing.  I like it so much better this way because you are sent the same payment each month.  How does it work?  Well for us, the electric company sends us an averaged payment each month [...]

Expense Categories

Here’s two examples of categorizing your expenses.  Since using Quicken, I have a Main Category and Sub Categories.  So my Dining Out category has sub-categories (lunch, dinner, coffee). This helped clarify which meal time we spent the most on.  Since my husband loves coffee, we were also able to tell how much a month he was spending [...]

No Technology Finance Managing

A conversation with a blog visitor helped remind me that not all people track their expenses using a computer or finance program.  I’ve used Quicken for over 12 years to help manage our money.  There have been times where I briefly used the paper route way and I’ve taught how to manage finances without using technology.  It’s not worse than tracking [...]

Luxury Expenses

Yesterday we talked about what to do if your budget doesn’t balance…one thing to look at is what I call luxury expenses.  Here are some alternative ideas to cutting or reducing these expenses.  Some of these are not new ideas.  It all comes down to a person’s willingness to recognize their financial troubles or wanting a simpler [...]

My budget didn’t balance?

It’s been over 30 days since I challenged you to start tracking your expenses.   Last month I did a post on creating a budget or spending plan.   If you created a budget and found that your expenses exceeded your income, then one thing you can do is evaluate what you can live without.  Here are some examples: [...]

Create a Budget or Spending Plan

Most people hate hearing the word budget.  I noticed a few years ago financial books and counselors started calling it a spending plan.  No matter what word you use, it’s still a piece of paper with how much money you should spend every month and hopefully not have a negative at the bottom. The easiest thing to [...]

My TOP 10 ways to cut EXPENSES!

1.  Cut cable or satellite (Yes, we have done this and currently use an $20 antenna that picks up all the major networks and some other channels) 2.  Increase your house insurance deductible (Yes, we have done this also – it really does not help your insurance rate to make small claims – it’s better [...]