Ursa Majoris Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Quicken could be $60 well spent. Super easy to set up and you can get it to download your bank statements, credit cards, and even investment portfolios. Most of the transactions it will automatically put into categories for you and it just takes about 10 minutes or so per week to assign the rest. Which version do you have? I bought the cheapo version and it sucked balls setting the thing up and the interface was awful. I also found that the income / fixed outgoings spreadsheet I've been using for a decade in conjunction with the web for my bank and CC data works just fine. The sheet has all my income, all fixed deductions e.g. tax, mortgage and all fixed periodic bills e.g. cable, gas, insurance, etc, leaving an uncommitted "excess" which is what we have to spend. I can see how Quicken can tell you what the excess goes on but I can do that myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 But sometimes things come up, like vet bills or car repairs, that you didn't see coming. Those things can make "strictly" sticking to the budget difficult for normal people. The biggest thing normal people can do to help themselves is to save for an emergency fund. Around 3 months salary or, if you can't do that much, then as much as you can. At least $500.00 so that "emergency" is just an inconvenience and doesn't crush you financially because you are living paycheck to paycheck. You'd be surprised how quickly you can save up a few hundred bucks. It puts your mind at complete ease. I did it back in my mid-20s when I crawled myself out of debt and it made all the difference. Those unexpected bills that would crush me or I'd have to pull out the credit card for, suddenly were just a nuisance. Build this fund up as much as you can and life gets even better. Savings truly are the key to happiness in so many ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Which version do you have? I bought the cheapo version and it sucked balls setting the thing up and the interface was awful. I also found that the income / fixed outgoings spreadsheet I've been using for a decade in conjunction with the web for my bank and CC data works just fine. The sheet has all my income, all fixed deductions e.g. tax, mortgage and all fixed periodic bills e.g. cable, gas, insurance, etc, leaving an uncommitted "excess" which is what we have to spend. I can see how Quicken can tell you what the excess goes on but I can do that myself. The version we're using is 2006. The only hassle we encounter is the fact that Captial One doesn't download as easily as everything else. However, we don't use that card very often, so I've just been manually entering the 5 or so monthly purchases we make on that card. Everything else, from our Amex, to our bank, to our Vanguard accounts download with a click and about 90% of the purchases are automatically categorized correctly for us so I just need to scan through and assign a few by myself. The hardest part is breaking out things like trips to costco because that can cover anything from groceries to electronics to lawn and garden. In general, however, it's mostly groceries. When we buy electronics there, it's usually a couple 100 bucks so that sort of sticks out and I just make a point of throwing $50 from the split every now and then into the other categories that might have money spent on them over the course of the year. At the end of the day, I don't want to be a slave to the process so I'm not going to save every receipt and break things down to the dollar. We're looking for trends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 We do not have a budget. We just do not spend money. I know it goes against Dave's central belief but it does not work on my wife. If I put strict limits on her spending she feels trapped and blows the budget. If she just does not need to spend money she doesn't. weird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yo mama Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 (edited) The biggest thing normal people can do to help themselves is to save for an emergency fund. Around 3 months salary or, if you can't do that much, then as much as you can. At least $500.00 so that "emergency" is just an inconvenience and doesn't crush you financially because you are living paycheck to paycheck. You'd be surprised how quickly you can save up a few hundred bucks. It puts your mind at complete ease. I did it back in my mid-20s when I crawled myself out of debt and it made all the difference. Those unexpected bills that would crush me or I'd have to pull out the credit card for, suddenly were just a nuisance. Build this fund up as much as you can and life gets even better. Savings truly are the key to happiness in so many ways. I hear ya, and I certainly subscribe to that philosophy. But there are folks out there that literally have to choose between saving cash and paying their rent that month. (Like that's really a "choice.") If their car breaks down, or kid falls off the jungle gym and breaks their arm, do you really think that person is going to "stick to their budget?" Course they won't; they can't. I guess I'm just sayin' that the best laid plans are always susceptible to unforeseen financial crisis. It's just that everyone's susceptibility level is different. Edited October 24, 2008 by yo mama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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