Budgets Come in all Different Shapes and Sizes.
If there's one thing I like more than beer and sex (just being honest!), it's clever budgeting. And just like there's all sorts of ways to have a good time, there are all sorts of ways to manage your cash flow.Personally, I use google docs to stay on top of my financial snapshot. I can budget from it, track my savings goals, my paycheck breakdowns, and most importantly my net worth (so I know overall how I'm doing that month). It's a little too bright and all over the place for some people, but it's perfect for me. You can download the budget template in excel if you wanna check it out.
Another way you can do it is via Word, shown below (click image to download the word .doc). It's clean, simple, and to the point. And most of all, it WORKS for the reader who emailed it over to me. As you can see, he has listed out all his bills, deadlines, savings, and retirement contributions - along with a few goals and "leftover amounts". Basically, his financial snapshot:
These are just 2 of the 10,934 ways you can do it. You've also got places online like Mint.com, YouNeedABudget.com, or even going old school and hitting up the envelope method! It doesn't really matter what you use, so long as you USE it and get something out of it. If it keeps your finances in check so you can frolic around with the more exciting parts of your life, you're doing things right.
Labels: budgets, money management
posted by J. Money at
9:08 AM
8 Comments:
"If there's one thing I like more than beer and sex (just being honest!), it's clever budgeting."
Oh my goodness. So you're one of those guys who, when your wife is saying, "Honey, when are you coming to bed?" you answer, "I'll be right there!" and you're working on your spreadsheet. Right? :oD
Hah! close...I say "I'll be right there!" but I'm actually blogging or reading blogs ;) I really only check out my spreadsheet a cple times a month for quick updates and then a net worth calculation - nice and easy. I do, however, fully enjoy hearing about how others budget. So fascinating to me!
"I'll be right there" = Waiting for all my accounts on Mint to update.
I respectfully disagree, without Beer and Sex there is no point to budgeting.
Besides, if I remember you correctly weren't you more into the strawberry daquiries and umbrella drinks! Boo ya
Ha. I'm on Mint. It's not my prime choice but I've got 100 better things to do than update a budget with each $$ transfer!!
Hi J. Money-
Budgeting is indeed the key to financial prosperity. Many of use want to find a shortcut and skip the discipline necessary to create surplus savings that will source our big purchases and retirement. There is no one right budgeting tool and there are a plethora of them as you noted. I would like to recommend to other services:
- moneyStrands: A free and customizable personal finance management site that aggregates your financial data from multiple providers, analyzes it and points out money saving tips and recommendations. (It doesn't have a separate expense category for beers though :)
- NetworthIQ: Practical templates to track your Net Worth month to month and share it with others (if you choose to) via a badge.
Atakan Cetinsoy
VP - Personal Finance
www.moneystrands.com
Thx for dropping by Atakan - it's been a while since i've checked out your site, but I'll be sure to do so ;)
I've never found a program that does exactly what I want it to, so I started writing my own. I don't get a lot of time to work on it, but someday I will have the perfect money management software. :)
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