This is part of our series on Leo Babauta’s Simple Living Manifesto. We invite you to join us on the journey.
The 65th idea in the manifesto is:
Simplify your budget. Many people skip budgeting (which is very important) because it’s too hard or too complicated. Read more here.
The Pike Place Piggy Bank | Photo by Jonathan Blundell
Laurie and I would say we have a pretty simple budget — most of it’s in our head.
But that’s also where we can get ourselves in trouble — like everyone else, right?
We have to remind ourselves to stop and review our budget every couple months to be sure we’re staying on track with our plans. And with the twins coming, we’re in the process of finding ways to tighten our belt even more and cut back in other areas.
Overall, the key to budgeting is keeping the budget balanced.
Whether you automate or unautomate your finance you must ensure you’re bringing in more money than your letting go of.
Economics 101.
Tools for managing your finances…
There are countless tools out there for managing your budget, but one of our most used tools are the apps our bank provides for monitoring our accounts on our phones. It’s makes it uber easy to be check-in and see where we’re spending our money.
We also use the apps (and/or the website) for online bill pay as well.
If your bank doesn’t offer a specific app, check out Mint.com. They have apps for iPhone and Android that do essentially (if not more) that our bank’s apps.
We’ve also used the cash/envelope method in times when we really need to tighten our belts. We’ll pull cash out of our accounts each month for gas, food and misc. expenses. It’s a huge help. Actually using cash makes you really re-think your purchases.
It’s like visiting a casino or an arcade that uses coins vs those fancy “debit cards.”
When you’re using coins you’re a lot more aware of what you have left vs. the seemingly unending supply of credits on the cards.
In addition to these ideas, you can also find a lot more information and tips on budgeting and finances from:
What have you found works best for maintaining your budget and finances?
Join us!
Write a blog post about the point above and then share the link in the comments below…
Simple Manifesto #66: Simplify your budget
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