Nerdy Dork

I’ve always been big into creating budget plans. I’ve even written my own
PHP/mySQL based programs to track budget items and spending. I’ve tried all
sorts of budgeting methods. I’ve tried
Quicken &

Microsoft Money. I’ve used
Excel Spreadsheets. I’ve even gone as far as hiring financial planners. Really.
Everything.

Now, I hope you don’t get the idea that I’m not in control of my money or my
spending. It just seems to me that there are techniques that can be used to help
you know where you stand financially so you can make the most of your money and
spend wisely.

This year I plan to try out three new methods.

First, I’m going to sign up for a free trial of a new product called Mvelopes. I
remember my mission president’s wife
explaining her favorite budgeting method. It went something like this:

"I create envelopes and label each category for spending such as Groceries,
Utilities, Clothes, Entertainment, etc. I put my budgeted amount in each
envelope. Once I’ve spent all the money in certain envelope, it’s gone for that
month."

Yes, I’ve tried that as well, but I’m the type of person that like to use my
check card for everything. I write one check per month if I’m lucky. And that
check is for

tithing. (I really don’t foresee the church setting up any kind of online
payment system :D)

Well, from my understanding, this is an online version of that system, plus
it can download transactions automatically from
my bank.

The second method I’m interested in taking a peek at is
Personal Budget Power.
I’ve read through the
sales letter, but I’m still not exactly sure what is in the eBook. It costs
$37.00, but I know that is a lot cheaper than hiring a financial adviser. I will
take the 90 day money back guarantee to try it out. If I don’t think it will
help me at all, or I just don’t think it is worth the price, I will request my
money back. (I’ve done this before with
ClickBank items and I’ve never had a problem getting a full refund.)

And the last approach to budgeting this year is a new savings account. I’ve
signed up for an ING DIRECT Orange Savings account. You keep you existing bank
account and transfer money online to ING. It currently earns 2.35%. This is the
highest rate I’ve seen for a savings account. Plus, ING makes it easy to set up
automatic monthly
transfers.

Bookmark to: