Author Topic: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)  (Read 3616 times)

BicyleBeats

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Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« on: November 17, 2016, 05:58:46 PM »
So I'm trying to get my finances under control and I'm looking to see what your single best piece of advice would be. I make a decent amount of money and can meet my bills, mortgage, etc, but feel that I'm always just making par. I have a single income and a lot babies (this is part of the struggle - LOL). Either way, I have a couple questions:

1. My wife and I have been using a spreadsheet for years and I'm curious if there's a better method. I've seen mint and a few other sites, but I never really liked them. Any other advice?

2. I'd like to completely take control over from my wife, but sometimes I feel that it's more time out of my schedule (I have a full time job and run a business on the weekends). Any advice on how to transition or streamline?

3. Is anyone using cash only? I've read Dave Ramsay's guide on this and it's been difficult for us. Also, I'm looking to maybe get a debit account setup to only use for a monthly budget (nothing tied to savings, etc.). Has anyone else have interesting ideas on how to do this?

4. I've also looked into getting a credit card to pay off all the bills once a month instead of having them stagger in. This can be annoying with the due dates, etc. I know that sounds silly, but I have very limited time and want to take this burden off my wife.

This and any other tips would be very welcome. Thanks, guys!
 

snogirl

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2016, 07:35:30 PM »
I tracked my spending every day using a small notebook. I mean every single cent spent. The old fashion way. The act of putting pen to paper recording every cent made my spending mindful & mind blowing it was. Next came a development of a spending plan congruent with my financial goals. This was an honest financial inventory. Good businesses do inventories to rid themselves to get rid of the bad & keep the good. It's was a daily practice for me & eventually became woven into a habit.
Because of doing those 2 simple steps my life changed dramatically & now am financially free of debt, have investments, savings, etc.

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« Last Edit: November 17, 2016, 07:39:44 PM by snogirl »

With This Herring

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2016, 09:29:49 PM »
Best tip in general?  Cheap housing.  Housing is such a large, relatively fixed portion of expenses that starting out in a cheaper apartment with roommates and skipping fancy amenities makes a huge difference in how much you can save.  I kind of stumbled into this, and I don't know if it would work for you with little kids.

Best tip if you are "just making par"?  Post a case study.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/
With accurate numbers on what you currently earn and spend each month, your fellow mustachians will be able to help you figure out if there are any savings to be had.

Mint (free with ads), YNAB (paid), Personal Capital (free with ads), and other sites will automatically download your transactions from checking and bank accounts, which some people like, and might save you time.  However, that data then lives on Mint's servers.  Quicken (paid) will also automatically download data and lives on your computer.  GnuCash (free) may be able to import files of data that you download from banking websites, but many people prefer to hand-enter transactions; GnuCash and its data live on your computer.  I had a large, complex spreadsheet that worked well for me for years, but I find that I prefer GnuCash (and I was able to import my years of historical data from the spreadsheet to GnuCash).

You don't say why you want to take control from your wife.  Is she feeling overwhelmed by tracking your finances?  Is she not keeping the records up to date?  Is she spending more than you think necessary?

I don't use cash-only.  Using my credit card (auto-paid in full each month) allows me to double-check and reconcile against the receipts I have collected and entered into GnuCash.  I use as little cash as I can, writing it down in a notebook to remember until I can get it into GnuCash.

What do you mean about a "debit account setup to only use for a monthly budget (nothing tied to savings, etc.)"?

If you are not running short of money, why not get all your bills set up to be auto-paid on a credit card?  Then the credit card auto-paid in full from your checking account?  I have the gas/electric bill, internet bill, cell phone bill, and health insurance bills all set to be auto-paid on their due dates via my credit card and the credit card auto-paid via checking.  The only due date I need to remember is rent.

Metric Mouse

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2016, 07:48:47 AM »
Automatic payments.

If your wife isn't handling finances the way you would like , perhaps you should talk to her.

Ayanka

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2016, 08:04:43 AM »
The one tip I would give you is really, really figure out what something costs on a monthly basis and think about how much time it costs to earn that item based on NET hourly wage (you guys call this after tax I think) and then determine whether it is worth it. I am naturally frugal, so it is not so hard for me, but it is a huge motivator for me.

1. No comment. I don't budget and only buy renovation supplies generally so I can't help with that.

2. Automatic payments and an automatic savings instituted. I saved up for my house by putting in a standard amount to go to savings and then some if I had leftover at the end of the month.

3. I rarely use cash to be honest. I think it can be a good idea, depending on whether you are more easily spending cash or with the card. If you have difficulties with it, I wouldn't go to cash, I would have a monthly budget meeting with your wife to go over expenses paid with the debit card.

4. Go for automatic payments and check them diligently once a month.

One more note: while I am not a DR follower (just too much of the plan that doesn't work inhere), I have spent a lot of time on a DR based forum. Taking over control of the finances from your wife is not the DR way of doing things. If you want to go to a DR(ish) plan this is probably the first thing you need to address by hosting a budget meeting and going over the numbers with her. If you are wanting one thing and your wife the other, things aren't going to go the way you want them to. As you are a single income family, is your wife into frugality even a bit? Because she can probably help more in decreasing expense than you can right now.

Goldielocks

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2016, 07:58:54 PM »
The basics are the best,  especially as you seem to say that you have enough money for everything, and are not pushed on finances, other than wanting to save more:

1)  Pay yourself first -- increase your deductions from your paycheck or transfer from you bank account another 10 or 20%.

2)   Get your housing, car, and food (and eating out) costs down.

3)   At this point, you can dig into other costs - insurance, daycare, other spending on vacations / gifts / entertainment / home renovation/ clothing shopping (your money is likely being spent on one of those)... OR just increase the amount under number 1 again. 


For most people, the declining checking account is a trigger to slow down spending, without elaborate budgets.   

If you are tight on income versus fixed expenses, or have cc issues, the the cash only spending budget is terrific at changing shopping behaviour.




Jschange

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2016, 10:16:32 PM »
I will never get to ERE levels, but his 21 day makeover works pretty well:
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-1-finding-a-place-to-live.html

Eco_eco

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Re: Getting Finances Under Control (Best Tips)
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2016, 06:38:22 PM »
Have you looked into YNAB (You Need A Budget - http://youneedabudget.com). This is a great tool which is focused on knowing where your money is going. The best thing about the approach is that you budget the money you receive when you get it, instead of trying to forecast how much you'll have a couple of months ahead. Working with the money actually in your bank account makes things sooo much easier.

Other than this my $0.02 is:
First have a long term plan - chat as a couple about where you see life being in 10 years, what is important to you both. Then its easier to figure out how much money you need to get there.
Use the long term plan to develop a strategy to have the money you'll need for the lifestyle you both want - this will tell you how much of your income you you need to set aside for savings
Automate your savings as much as possible.
Use a tool like YNAB to allocate your money as it comes in and track your spending if there is enough left over that this is worthwhile.