I know you may think it is crazy. There have been more marriages ruined by money than anything else. Sometimes one partner is disappointed that the other makes too little money, and it tired of eating spam. Sometimes one partner is consistently disappointed that the other frivolously spends their hard-earned money.
Either way in most cases this can be eased with good communication. Often times people try to put their ideas onto someone else with little regard for much else but their agenda and/or ideals. Keep in mind there is an old saying, "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." In other words, to get someone to see things how you want to see them, you must first understand where they are coming from. A lot of these communication techniques can be found at www.keepyourmarriage.com.
The book "How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie, found at www.amazon.com. Speaks about the 'Buy In'. I tried for years to get my wife to 'buy in' to the idea of a family budget. I tried letting her do it. I tried forcing it on her. I tried everything I could think of. Finally I found the free budget planner at www.quicken.com. She uses the goals section to manage our discretionary spending. We have been on it for a couple of months and it is working great. I couldn't be more proud.
What was the difference? Easy, she finally bought into it. Once she was given a piece to manage on her own, set spending levels and manage the spending amounts it all clicked. The moral of this story is simple: If you want action, you must be willing to sacrifice control.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Save your money-change your life. A penny saved is a penny earned. Money is power.
Alright, lets talk about figuring this budget thing out. Please read my last blog to get caught up. Write down your income. This is your take home-after taxes (which I fear are on the way up) income. Lets say it is $4,000 per month. Add up all of your non-discretionary spending. Lets say for mathematical ease it is $2,000. That leaves you $2,000 to spending as you please.
Go to http://www.quicken.com/ and sign up for the free budget planner. Under the goals tab you can set all of your discretionary spending limits. Be sure that one of your categories is for a withdrawal to your savings account. If you see it as an expense you will always have money to save. Whether it is $10 or $100, it is super-important that you save something. Use the data obtained from your two months of monitoring your expenditures to make this as accurate as possible. This will update every time that you log on and view your account.
On a side note you will have to add your applicable bank accounts and credit cards (shame on you for having them) to quicken. This is safe and quick (pardon the pun).
From time to time you will have to edit transactions to ensure that they are being tagged to go into the correct category. Again, quicken makes this easy, and the best part is it is all free.
Now you can track your spending like the big banks and mortgage institutions should have done. It is imperative to stay on your budget. If you do not you will not save money.
The most important part of all of this is you. You have the power to replace your current situation with a more prosperous one. God Bless.
Go to http://www.quicken.com/ and sign up for the free budget planner. Under the goals tab you can set all of your discretionary spending limits. Be sure that one of your categories is for a withdrawal to your savings account. If you see it as an expense you will always have money to save. Whether it is $10 or $100, it is super-important that you save something. Use the data obtained from your two months of monitoring your expenditures to make this as accurate as possible. This will update every time that you log on and view your account.
On a side note you will have to add your applicable bank accounts and credit cards (shame on you for having them) to quicken. This is safe and quick (pardon the pun).
From time to time you will have to edit transactions to ensure that they are being tagged to go into the correct category. Again, quicken makes this easy, and the best part is it is all free.
Now you can track your spending like the big banks and mortgage institutions should have done. It is imperative to stay on your budget. If you do not you will not save money.
The most important part of all of this is you. You have the power to replace your current situation with a more prosperous one. God Bless.
The easy way to save money when you are married with children, because a penny saved is a penny earned.
People lets be honest. It is hard to save money. There a lot of temptations out there that keep us poor. Whether it be nicer cars, designer label clothes, my wife's handbags, vacations, et. al., it is tough to remain frugal in our spend thrift society. Even if you find yourself in a situation where the items listed above are way out of reach, and you struggle at times to keep you and yours in good living conditions, acceptable schools and decent clothing it is still challenging to save money.
Saving money is a lot like weight loss. It is a simple equation in weight loss, calories in through food and drink minus calories burned during exercise or daily activities equals weight gain or loss. Money is the same. Money in (income) minus money out (expenses) equals whether you are eating steak or spam. Even if you do not have a lot of money coming in the door, you can save money.
Set up a budget. Before doing so monitor your expenditures for two months. I am talking about tracking every red cent of money that goes out of your bank account, right down to the pack of gum you by at the gas station. You will end up with a giant list of expenditures. I will now give you tips on categorizing your expenditures.
The first category is non-discretionary spending. These are fixed amount expenditures such as rent, electric, phone, cable, et. al. The second category is discretionary spending. This is the fun stuff like dining out, clothes, groceries (ok not so fun), vacation fund, entertainment, et. al. Since non-discretionary spending is fixed, you do not have much room here. You could adjust by cancelling the HBO or turning the thermostat to minimize heating and cooling expenses. Break all discretionary spending into as many categories as you feel are needed to accurately and logically track your spending. Look at http://www.quicken.com/ for a quick budget planner.
This should get you ready to really go to work on your budget. My next blog will focus on balancing your personal budget and getting real about spending.
Saving money is a lot like weight loss. It is a simple equation in weight loss, calories in through food and drink minus calories burned during exercise or daily activities equals weight gain or loss. Money is the same. Money in (income) minus money out (expenses) equals whether you are eating steak or spam. Even if you do not have a lot of money coming in the door, you can save money.
Set up a budget. Before doing so monitor your expenditures for two months. I am talking about tracking every red cent of money that goes out of your bank account, right down to the pack of gum you by at the gas station. You will end up with a giant list of expenditures. I will now give you tips on categorizing your expenditures.
The first category is non-discretionary spending. These are fixed amount expenditures such as rent, electric, phone, cable, et. al. The second category is discretionary spending. This is the fun stuff like dining out, clothes, groceries (ok not so fun), vacation fund, entertainment, et. al. Since non-discretionary spending is fixed, you do not have much room here. You could adjust by cancelling the HBO or turning the thermostat to minimize heating and cooling expenses. Break all discretionary spending into as many categories as you feel are needed to accurately and logically track your spending. Look at http://www.quicken.com/ for a quick budget planner.
This should get you ready to really go to work on your budget. My next blog will focus on balancing your personal budget and getting real about spending.
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