Personal Finance Buzz

I have long touted my method of using ING Direct for budgeting and it has served Linda and I well. It has been a free and fairly simple method of budgeting that has helped us keep our finances organized. When we got married, we were in a pretty tight spot financially and there wasn’t really any room in the budget to pay for budgeting software.

One budgeting software that I've heard quite a bit of positive feedback about is You Need A Budget, a desktop budgeting software. Here's my full review

"Been there – done that, and it didn’t work." This is a common response women have when it comes to budgeting. The problem is that it feels restrictive– like trying to stick to a diet. And no one wants to feel limited or restricted!

Cash envelope budgeting is a technique of budgeting that’s been around for a long time. While I think it’s an excellent technique for budgeting, I prefer a modified approach I think makes more real-world sense.In case you don’t know or need a refresher, cash envelope budgeting involves using envelopes to manage money. An envelope is created for each of your budget categories such as food . . .

Budgeting isn’t always easy. In fact, it’s very difficult if you’ve never consistently stuck to one. When Courtney and I (John) first started budgeting, the only thing we could do is follow vague percentages and use a lot of trial and error. We had no idea how to start a budget and as a result the first few months didn’t turn out so well. However, we learned a lot of things along the way. Hopefully this article will save newbies to the budgeting process some headaches.

If you are like most of us you have tried budgeting and given up. But what are your choices? Never try again? If you can avoid the pitfalls (see recent post) and if you can begin reaping the budget benefits, you will develop a lifetime budgeting habit.

These budgeting lies will hurt your budgeting. Get the budgeting truth.