Thriftism

Now that we've covered the why of budgeting, let's hit the how. To start, grab yourself a pen and paper or an excel sheet or pull up the app/website of your choice. While it can seem more concrete if you write it all down, I find tracking to be much simpler if I use excel or an online application. The photo in the title is an excel spreadsheet. There a tons of different options in excel if you search for budget when you go to open a new workbook. If none of them fit your style, feel free to create your own.   I personally use a combination of Every Dollar  for tracking expenses and an excel spreadsheet to create the initial budget and track annual expenses. Yes, I create an annual budget in addition to the monthly budget. This allows me to maximize savings, predict future habits (such as saving) and best estimate our mortgage payoff date or our financial independence date.  Don't worry, you can choose just one budget tool and focus on monthly expenses. Then...

What is the big deal with budgeting? It seems like everyone is talking about it, but they don't always mention why it is important. Creating your first budget might sound like a lot of work, but we will walk you through it and help you understand the why and how of it. Let's start with the why.   WHY???   Creating a budget is important for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that creating a budget means creating a spending plan for your money. This ensures that you have money for things you need or want. By having a plan for your money, you will be much less likely to go into debt and be able to begin chipping away at your current debt. It also keeps you from spending money you don't have. It is so easy to swipe that card, but if you're not tracking what you're spending, you may end up unable to pay the bill at the end of the month. When you're tracking your spending, you're also more likely to kick those bad spending habits. What doe...

Budget! Budget! Budget! I always have to watch what I'm spending on things to make sure we can still afford to go on our big trip every year and to keep socking away money into savings for the future. This means I jump at the chance to get something, or anything, for free. Samples are amazing and they can have some pretty good ones too. Just last week I got a 7 week supply of Align probiotics. That's over $40 in savings. While most samples are not nearly this high in value, every little bit helps. There are a couple of sites I follow to find out about samples: Sampleaday and Freebiesfrenzy . They send you an email every day listing the samples available. Free things vary from stickers to coffee mugs to food, you just have to keep your eyes open for the really good ones. I found a few good samples offered today: Free PediaSure after rebate @ pediasure.com Huggies Diapers and Natural Care Wipes   2 Lipton Ice Tea K-Cups and $0.75 coupon  There are quite a...

If you have an individual phone plan, you've probably noticed your phone bill is hugely expensive. Unless you can add lines and shares the costs of the plan or get a company discount, it is a lot of money to pay every month. I faced this dilemma earlier in the year and noticed that contracts cost more than a monthly prepaid month. In fact, at AT&T if I had stayed on a contract plan, my bill would be about $25 more than it currently is on a month-to-month and with a contract I wouldn't have unlimited minutes. With the monthly plan, I get unlimited minutes, text, and since I have a basic phone, I get unlimited internet as well. I believe it is also cheaper to do a month-to-month for a smartphone. Sprint might be better because it has unlimited everything for $80. This includes unlimited data on a smartphone, which is the better option for those who watch tv on the phone. Many of the contract plans continue to have a limit on minutes, which is not very viable in this day and a...