Where do I start in organizing finances? (Full Version)

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twoboys -> Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 1:52:11 PM)

We are looking into Quicken. What do you recommend?

We need something to keep track of what we spend. We are really bad at this!



GroupW -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 2:19:12 PM)

I've used quicken before. It's really very helpful. Also, if you bank online your bank will most likely provide a quicken-compatible statement so you can download and import your activity. If you have some measure of discipline, it can be tremendously insightful by providing a real time picture of what you're spending money on. I say go for it! It's not that expensive. It takes a certain amount of discipline to keep up with it, but I think it's worthwhile.

Alternatively, if you're very proficient in Excel or other spreadsheet program, you can do the same thing there a whole lot cheaper (if you already have MS Office, that is.)



Miss Giggles -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 3:03:13 PM)

I use quicken to keep track of what I spend.

However, for budgeting it gets pretty confusing. The 2008 deluxe version has a my savings plan feature that lets you do a monthly budget but it was giving me negative numbers and confusing me with the balances that rolled forward. But it shows that they are working on improving the budgeting somewhat


Anyway the best program I found for budgeting is called "You need a budget" from youneedabudget.com . Very simple and easy to use.

If you are good at Excel then do the budget in there but you'll have to keep it up to date. It all depends on your skills and what's easier for you to do.

Important thing is writing it all down



BlueAdept -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 4:11:14 PM)

twoboys,
The cheapest most "effective" way is envelops. Take the money you get, put your budgeted amount into different envelops.
Food - 250.00
Gas - 125.00
Rent - 500.00
etc...

Now in this case this is assuming you don't use a check book. If you do then only use envelopes for cash items. Meals out, groceries, gasoline, entertainment. You can use quickbooks, Microsoft money, or any of several other programs to get more details, but understand that the more deatils you have to enter to more difficult it is to enter each item.

For example, when you go to the store and purchase 25.00 in groceries and 15.00 in house hold supplies (TP) you have to break that out. Or if you list it all in one area it looks like you went over budget in that area. Maybe you purchased a book while at the store that is a gift, .... lots and lots of variables. So you can't wait to enter that until the bank statement comes, because by that point you will have forgotten what you spent where. (My wife wrote the checks, I had to enter them, and I rarely got a receipt.) As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.



GroupW -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 4:55:33 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: BlueAdept

For example, when you go to the store and purchase 25.00 in groceries and 15.00 in house hold supplies (TP) you have to break that out. Or if you list it all in one area it looks like you went over budget in that area. Maybe you purchased a book while at the store that is a gift, .... lots and lots of variables. So you can't wait to enter that until the bank statement comes, because by that point you will have forgotten what you spent where. (My wife wrote the checks, I had to enter them, and I rarely got a receipt.) As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.


When I used Quicken, I would go ahead and do the download from the bank once a month. I saved all the receipts, so I could break out expenses later if I needed to. I also tried to keep my expense categories fairly simple. For example, I probably would not have divided out household supplies from groceries. Leaving those expenses bucketed together helped keep it simple.

I tend to think that keeping it simple helps in the long run. You lose some information, but you save on some of the detail work that might keep you from keeping your records current. In the end, it's all a matter of how much time you have to devote to the task. The less time you have (or want to spend) doing it, the simpler the task needs to be. My only advice would be to keep good detail out there on the "budget sins" - the big black holes that eat up cash. Entertainment, eating out, clothes, toys, etc all should probably each get a bucket of their own if you find yourself spending a lot of money on them.

BT



ta_mosquito -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 5:15:06 PM)

I use Quicken to keep track of bank balances, etc., but I use Budget for Windows to do the actual budgeting. I didn't like how Quicken does budgeting. Budget uses the envelope system, but you don't have to have physical envelopes and cash. It's a little clunky, but it works for us.

(For some reason the web site isn't coming up on my computer. Maybe you'll have better luck.)



creationtalk -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/4/2008 7:01:07 PM)

I use the Money Matters software from Crown Financial Concepts for budgeting and keeping track of my accounts.



twoboys -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 10:46:31 AM)

Thanks everyone. We were looking at Quicken online if anyone uses that. One of us is almost always on the computer and thought it looked neat. I'm going to show your comments to my hubby. Thanks again!



BlueAdept -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 10:56:07 AM)

Just remember the K.I.S.S. principle. Keep It Super Simple.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 1:43:08 PM)

quote:

Just remember the K.I.S.S. principle. Keep It Super Simple.


That is why I'm not using Quicken. [8D]

I have a folder ("My Finances" folder found at Walmart) on my dining room table. In the front clear pocket I put all the bills coming due, with the dates due written on the envelopes. There is a page with a pocket for each month, in which I have our budget and expense/income records. Once a month I balance the checkbook, sort reciepts and file them, and write the checks for bills. Everything is in one place, everything get's written down, and that is about as complicated as I can handle. [&o]



lexie -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 1:53:16 PM)

I'm a pencil and paper girl. I have one folder for everything household. The first piece of paper is the budget for the month - bills, and monthly expenses. The second piece of paper is what we spend, divided into categories. The third piece of paper is the meal plan for the month. The fourth is a grocery list to correspond with the meal plan. I also stick the receipts in the folder.

I tried using a computer program but in the end I found that writing it all down was much easier for me.



Kateers82 -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 2:06:25 PM)

Hi there!

I used to be terrible at keeping track of my finances! A few months ago I saw how one of my co-worker's had an Excel spreadsheet that she used to keep track of all her monthly bills. I looked at how she did hers and I made my own. It's simple if you take your time and know how to put in formulas. I have three different "Worksheets" in mine: 2008 Bills, 2008 Spending, and 2008 Progress. The "Bills" includes rent, cell phone, car payment, electric, internet, car and renters insurance. The "Spending" is divided up into several categories: Tithe, Savings, Groceries, Gasoline, Entertainment/Recreation (this includes eating out!), House Items (cleaning supplies, towels, etc.), Misc. Items, Clothes, and I have a column for all my income that month no matter what it is. That way I can see what I have spent compared to how much income has come in that month. Its amazing to see how much is spent on little things (bottle of pop, coffee, etc.) My "Progress" sheet has all my credit card balances at the end of each month and my car payment balance. This shows me how much I have left to pay on that debt. :-) I hope that all makes sense. It seems to work for me... and I check my bank account balance online daily, sometimes 2 times a day just to keep a close eye on it! Good luck on finding a method! :-)



doinkdom -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 5:41:18 PM)

I've used Quicken for about 8 years now...it's awesome.

I actually do my budget by using the bill scheduler. I've inputed all of our bills - even those that only come up quarterly, etc. with reminders appropriate to when we get paid and make deposits.

As for groceries, paper products and personal hygiene stuff, I categorize them all together. And because I know they are all together, I can keep track of what we're doing.

You can also add or change any categories, etc. to fit your needs and what you want to have tracked.

There is a property/debit account that will keep track of loans, etc. so you have a good idea of where you are in total remaining after payment.

I'm currently using Quicken 2008 Home & Business and love it.

Setting it up took about an hour or so, but after that, I can balance my checking account in seconds and can print out what we spent on a monthly basis in about a minute and best of all...no NSF fees because of forgotten bills.[;)]



ta_mosquito -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 6:16:46 PM)

quote:

I actually do my budget by using the bill scheduler. I've inputed all of our bills - even those that only come up quarterly, etc. with reminders appropriate to when we get paid and make deposits.


The bill reminders in Quicken have saved me many times from late fees. Now, if only they could remind me even when the program isn't running! [8D]



Miss Giggles -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/5/2008 6:25:00 PM)

I think there is a widget for it if you have Vista.



Row1 -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 10:15:18 AM)

we went from terrible money management for the first yearand a half of our marriage, to really coordinated, strong money management in the past year and a half.

i believe the critical starting point is to work out a monthly budget with pencil and paper. [later, if you want, put this in quicken, excel, envelope system, etc.]

get all expenses into one budget. neither of us is a super-strong money management person, and i have to tell ya that this made all the difference.

it also got us on one team as a couple versus husband fighting wife over money issues. We, together, look at the 'bottom line', money coming in each month, and we look at all of the categories of expenses. When WE need to adjust, WE decide how. For example, when the school year ended in June, WE entered 'zero' for the school-lunch debit account line on the budget, and entered zero for the tutor. We took the dollar values from each of those and put those dollars into some other category.

Now, with school about to start, we STILL have those budget entries in our pencil-and-paper list (actually just written up in microsoft word) - and we will need to enter the $60 per month or whatever it is for the school lunch debit account, and the $60 a month or whatever for the weekly tutor.

Then, we look at the budget and adjust that $120 away from some other line. --the most flexible line in the budget is the line with the money devoted to paying off two no-interest credit cards - it gets all the money that is not devoted elsewhere. Once we pay these off, in a few months, that will become the "build a 3-6 months' emergency fund" budget line.

We could go and enter all of our categories on Quicken, or Excel. But I think for us, that would just slow us down. It is easier for us to look at the two-page-long printed budget, and pencil in the little changes that come up each month.

It took us about 3 months to figure out ALL of the categories we need in our budget to be prepared for most everything:
Our monthy categories include: GIVING tithing, gift fund (birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc.), Christmas fund (plan a dollar amt for total expenses, tree-and-all, then divide by 12, and put aside into envelope that much per month), HOUSING mortage, annual neighborhood association fee (again, put 1/12 per month), UTILITIES electricity, water, home phone, cell phones, internet, cable, allowance, FOOD groceries (includes groceries and restaurant), "pocket money" or spending money, school food debit acct, TRASPORTATION gas, car insurance, car license/repair/maintenance, bus pass, CLOTHING clothing, HEALTH life insurance premium, medical visits/drug copays/OTC meds, payment plan for braces, EDUCATION student loan, tutor, annual professiona llicense renewal (again, divide by 12 and add that much per month to envelope),DEBT standard credit card pmt, extra credit card pmt.

We do the envelopes. This makes it FAR more easy to stick to the budget.

I get paid twice per month. At each pay period, I pull out the cash needed to fill the envelopes.

This has brought GREAT calm and stability to our family. Think about it: we NEVER have to tell the tutor we will pay her next week. When gas prices climbed, we simply adjusted this category. When Christmas comes, we simply grab the envelope, with little bump in our budget. When we need to run to the drugstore in the middle of the night for antacids or whatever, we just grab the medical category envelope.

My stepdaughter had a surgery last year. It was so cool to pay the up-front handful of money in cash already set aside, versus pulling out the charge card and wondering how I would make everything work the next month. At discharge, same thing at the pharmacy for the antibiotics and pain meds.

Now, usually, in a couple, one person is "good" at this and the other perso mis not. Simply let the person who is "good" at money management, or setting up lists (i.e., the person who does the taxes) do the muscle work of writing/typing the budget page, but you BOTH discuss how much in each category.

For us, I am happy to keep track and adjust - and I always tell my wife abt these changes.

This can help with wasteful, foolish spending. If you are spending $ on cigarettes, it will become glaringly clear. Don't fight over this. Just enter "cigarettes: $90/month." And put the money in an envelope. I can almost guarantee that the smoking will go down, AND that the smoker likely will quit again in the nexy year. [all smokers have some period of quitting, but most usually go back to smoking].

If either or both of you drink a fair amt of alcohol, you will also adjust this once you see how big a portion of the budget it is. Not even 'problem drinking - just having two beers each time you go out to eat, at twice eating out per week, would be $50/month easy.

Hair cuts, getting nails done, etc - each of you will naturally start adjusting these things as you look at this planned budget each month.

So, try not to fight about some of these things at first. Just get them into the budget, and accept the current expenses, and let some natural change processes happen over time.

I hope the desire to manage your budget, and live more in line with the Bible as far as money management and debt, brings lots more peace to your family, like it has to ours!



doinkdom -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 10:19:45 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ta_mosquito
quote:

I actually do my budget by using the bill scheduler. I've inputed all of our bills - even those that only come up quarterly, etc. with reminders appropriate to when we get paid and make deposits.


The bill reminders in Quicken have saved me many times from late fees. Now, if only they could remind me even when the program isn't running! [8D]


[:D]Yeh, I also use my Outlook reminders to remind to open up Quicken, which reminds to pay a bill and deduct it from our account.

So I have a double-check for the double-check[8|] cause I apparently can't be trusted to remember anything.[8D]

I use Outlook for email, so I have it open throughout the day.



doinkdom -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 10:25:39 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Row1

we went from terrible money management for the first yearand a half of our marriage, to really coordinated, strong money management in the past year and a half.

i believe the critical starting point is to work out a monthly budget with pencil and paper. [later, if you want, put this in quicken, excel, envelope system, etc.]

get all expenses into one budget. neither of us is a super-strong money management person, and i have to tell ya that this made all the difference.

it also got us on one team as a couple versus husband fighting wife over money issues. We, together, look at the 'bottom line', money coming in each month, and we look at all of the categories of expenses. When WE need to adjust, WE decide how. For example, when the school year ended in June, WE entered 'zero' for the school-lunch debit account line on the budget, and entered zero for the tutor. We took the dollar values from each of those and put those dollars into some other category.

Now, with school about to start, we STILL have those budget entries in our pencil-and-paper list (actually just written up in microsoft word) - and we will need to enter the $60 per month or whatever it is for the school lunch debit account, and the $60 a month or whatever for the weekly tutor.

Then, we look at the budget and adjust that $120 away from some other line. --the most flexible line in the budget is the line with the money devoted to paying off two no-interest credit cards - it gets all the money that is not devoted elsewhere. Once we pay these off, in a few months, that will become the "build a 3-6 months' emergency fund" budget line.

We could go and enter all of our categories on Quicken, or Excel. But I think for us, that would just slow us down. It is easier for us to look at the two-page-long printed budget, and pencil in the little changes that come up each month.

It took us about 3 months to figure out ALL of the categories we need in our budget to be prepared for most everything:
Our monthy categories include: GIVING tithing, gift fund (birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc.), Christmas fund (plan a dollar amt for total expenses, tree-and-all, then divide by 12, and put aside into envelope that much per month), HOUSING mortage, annual neighborhood association fee (again, put 1/12 per month), UTILITIES electricity, water, home phone, cell phones, internet, cable, allowance, FOOD groceries (includes groceries and restaurant), "pocket money" or spending money, school food debit acct, TRASPORTATION gas, car insurance, car license/repair/maintenance, bus pass, CLOTHING clothing, HEALTH life insurance premium, medical visits/drug copays/OTC meds, payment plan for braces, EDUCATION student loan, tutor, annual professiona llicense renewal (again, divide by 12 and add that much per month to envelope),DEBT standard credit card pmt, extra credit card pmt.

We do the envelopes. This makes it FAR more easy to stick to the budget.

I get paid twice per month. At each pay period, I pull out the cash needed to fill the envelopes.

This has brought GREAT calm and stability to our family. Think about it: we NEVER have to tell the tutor we will pay her next week. When gas prices climbed, we simply adjusted this category. When Christmas comes, we simply grab the envelope, with little bump in our budget. When we need to run to the drugstore in the middle of the night for antacids or whatever, we just grab the medical category envelope.

My stepdaughter had a surgery last year. It was so cool to pay the up-front handful of money in cash already set aside, versus pulling out the charge card and wondering how I would make everything work the next month. At discharge, same thing at the pharmacy for the antibiotics and pain meds.

Now, usually, in a couple, one person is "good" at this and the other perso mis not. Simply let the person who is "good" at money management, or setting up lists (i.e., the person who does the taxes) do the muscle work of writing/typing the budget page, but you BOTH discuss how much in each category.

For us, I am happy to keep track and adjust - and I always tell my wife abt these changes.

This can help with wasteful, foolish spending. If you are spending $ on cigarettes, it will become glaringly clear. Don't fight over this. Just enter "cigarettes: $90/month." And put the money in an envelope. I can almost guarantee that the smoking will go down, AND that the smoker likely will quit again in the nexy year. [all smokers have some period of quitting, but most usually go back to smoking].

If either or both of you drink a fair amt of alcohol, you will also adjust this once you see how big a portion of the budget it is. Not even 'problem drinking - just having two beers each time you go out to eat, at twice eating out per week, would be $50/month easy.

Hair cuts, getting nails done, etc - each of you will naturally start adjusting these things as you look at this planned budget each month.

So, try not to fight about some of these things at first. Just get them into the budget, and accept the current expenses, and let some natural change processes happen over time.

I hope the desire to manage your budget, and live more in line with the Bible as far as money management and debt, brings lots more peace to your family, like it has to ours!


you are just scary organized[:)]

and yes, that's a compliment from someone with the title of "sticky note queen" [sm=king.gif]



ta_mosquito -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 10:35:10 AM)

The thing I don't like about the cash/envelope system is that you don't earn interest on the money since it's all stuck in envelopes in your drawer. That, and we pay a lot by credit card for the points, but we still stay within our budget. With a cash system, you don't earn the points. (I guess you could take the money out of the envelopes and put it in the credit card envelope when you make a CC purchase, but that seems like a lot of shuffling.) That's one reason I like the Budget program - we do "envelopes" but it's all virtual, so I can keep earning interest or shuffle funds from the Gas and Restaurant envelopes over to the Credit Card Payment envelope very easily.



doinkdom -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 10:39:16 AM)

I agree with you Tricia.

I do see the benefit of the real-world envelopes for someone who has no clue, etc. about budgeting.

Seeing the physical aspect of where money goes is an important and basic step so I can understand why it works for many people.

But once that realization has happened, I think going virtual and keeping current will do the same thing.



Miss Giggles -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 11:16:09 AM)

In all reality if you STICK to the budget it doesn't matter how you've paid. (cash or debit). If you use the credit card you will have a slight delay.

If you have income of 2000 for example and spend 1500 you will have 500 left.

I know Dave Ramsey says to stick with cash and there is an emotional attachment but I don't have that. Esp since my generation has grown up with debit and credit and online banking. So really you have to find what works for you. I am on the dave ramsey board and some people have some insanely complicated systems and some don't but its all about finding a balance.

If I shared a bank account I'd probably do all cash but since I don't it's easier for me to record my debits (on a daily basis, as its spent, of course)

I cannot do a pen and paper budget or checkbook, I make way too many mistakes.



BlueAdept -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 11:45:57 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Miss Giggles

I know Dave Ramsey says to stick with cash and there is an emotional attachment but I don't have that. Esp since my generation has grown up with debit and credit and online banking.

If I shared a bank account I'd probably do all cash but since I don't it's easier for me to record my debits (on a daily basis, as its spent, of course)

I cannot do a pen and paper budget or checkbook, I make way too many mistakes.


You should try going 2-3 months with a cash system. While you don't think there is an emotional connection with spending money, there really is.

As an example, if you have 80 dollars on you and you need to fill up your car and purchase groceries. When you walk into the store you see that something you really like but don't "need" is on sale, a great sale. When you use a debit card, or credit card you can just pull it out and purchase all you want. But with a cash only you have to decide do I get this, or do I buy what is on my list and either come back, or do without. Since you know you need 45.00 for the fill up (Or maybe that was 45.00 last week and 50.00 this week.) It really does impact how you think, and thus how you spend.



Miss Giggles -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 11:55:33 AM)

No I have tried that before. I know exactly what is left to spend in my budget category. I do better with an electronic system.



twoboys -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 1:38:41 PM)

Thanks for your comments. Now I just need to START somewhere and get us going! I keep delaying it which is BAD because I know it's going to be a lot of work getting organized at first :)



Row1 -> RE: Where do I start in organizing finances? (8/6/2008 3:18:41 PM)

either way.
start with a piece of paper and a pencil.
write a 'hypothetical' budget.
play around with the idea.
do it while you watch tv tonite, do it while waiting in line at the store, whatever.
just put pencil to paper and start.



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