Handy Dandy Budget Calculator

My thanks to Karen for this great resource! I met Karen in Edmonton when I was there to do a shopping seminar, a few years ago. She and I have stayed in touch via email. She recently sent me this link. It is a Canadian government site for resources to do with money.

I right away tested out the budget calculator. I found it very easy. It also was extensive. Usually these tools are missing categories. The only thing I would have liked would have been the ability to name a few. For example: in the income category it would be nice to add Income tax return, or odd jobs. Otherwise, you have a dollar amount and no idea where it came from.To remedy this, when I printed it I added my own categories by hand.

I loved how it tallied everything up for me! I loved how each page gave you a look at where you are at. In the end it even gave you a percentage amount that you spent in each sub category. I found this is very eye opening as you can see what percentage of your income goes where. At the end it does up a nifty pie chart and graph. You can choose to save it as a PDF, excel, or print it off.  I am definitely going to use this for my planning for next year! I am pretty excited! How about you??!! Thanks again Karen!

Keeping a monthly tally....Budget Talk

Again....by M.
So, it's November...only 2 months left in 2011. How's your spending? I have always found that when I keep track it seems to keep me on track!So,for November I am going to keep close watch!  One of the ways I will accomplish this is that I am doing a survey on spending habits. I do this every three months(I think that's right). I get paid a small amount to relay how I spent my money that month. Not only do I find it interesting, I also tend to do better those months! How about you? How do you keep track? Why not try it for one month.  Try tracking everything that you spend money on. If you do it for November and December you'll have a pretty good idea of how to budget for 2012.

Tracking Spending with Envelopes

Spring!

I have found a method of tracking our spending that works well for us. I hope it might be helpful to you. I had always liked the envelope method of budgeting, but never want to have real cash around. One day the kids and I were talking about how much things cost and I suddenly thought, why not use play money!

So we got some Monopoly and Full House game money.

Then I took plain envelopes and listed all the household expenses.

In the bottom corner is the amount needed monthly.

Then I fill the envelope with the money needed.

When I come home from shopping I add up my receipts and take out the money to "pay" the total of the receipts.

The receipts goes into the envelope. At a glance you can look into the envelopes and see exactly where you are at.