Tag Archives | Budgeting & Spending

5 Gift Ideas for Last Minute Shoppers

YahooFinance shares 5 budget friendly gift ideas for those who’ve procrastinated on their Christmas shopping. I just drove by the mall tonight and it looks like there are plenty of last minute shoppers out there!  But wait!  You don’t have to visit the mall.  Love the idea of giving a donation! What do you think [...]

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Financial Tracking and Budgeting Methods

Why is financial tracking so important? Well, if I don’t know where I am, how can I know where I am going? Tracking our finances is key to being able to tell our money where it needs to go versus it disappearing on us. There are a multitude of ways to do so, but I [...]

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Tips to Buy Organic Foods on a Budget

Normally you don’t think of those two words in the same sentence – organic and budget, but it can be done.  Living on a budget doesn’t mean I cannot make healthy life choices.  It just dictates my method of making those choices. Only buy what you need.  If you buy more than you can use, [...]

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Managing Personal Expenses by Cutting Unnecessary Spending

A while back I had an interesting conversation with a neighbor about all the unnecessary spending and expenses people tend to have today.  Many weren’t around years ago.   It’s the type of convenience spending such as the exterminator service.   Everyone is doing it, you sign up and then 6 months later you’re asking yourself why you’re [...]

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How Do You Live Well on Less Pay?

There are plenty of people out there that don’t make a lot of money and have trouble covering basic expenses each month.  Unfortunately, many of them are underpaid in their professions, but they have important jobs. I know this situation well since my wife used to be a kindergarten teacher and often had less income [...]

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Tips for Starting a Budget

So you want to get your finances under control but the idea of a budget is intimidating.  Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you from getting your finances in order!  A budget is simply a financial document used to track income and expenses.  Some people use personal finance & budgeting software, others use cash [...]

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How to Budget Variable or Irregular Income

Budgeting for irregular or variable income may seem challenging,  but it’s really not difficult.  It just requires a little more planning.  A variable income budget can be just as effective as a fixed income budget. I suppose irregular income is probably most common in sales oriented or commission based positions, personally owned businesses and seasonal type work.  [...]

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Basics of Income Allocation

One of the most confusing things to figure out when starting a budget with multiple paychecks each month is determining which bills to pay with each source of income . It’s much more straightforward for those who get one paycheck per month. A budget can be set up based on that one paycheck for the [...]

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Benefits of Personal Budget Tracking Software

Budget tracking software is nothing more than a tool to help you manage your budget and monthly spending.  As a Money Map Coach I always encourage people to create their first budget with pencil and paper.  This is because the budget is going to change quite a bit until you get it where it needs to be for [...]

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What You Need to Know About Cash Flow Management

As you may know, I also write for Bible Money Matters and Christian Personal Finance.  From time to time, I’ll republish a post here at OMD I’ve written for one of those blogs.  I previously published this article for Bible Money Matters.  Enjoy! PErsonal cash flow management, managing what’s coming in and what’s going out, is critical [...]

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Summer Vacation Budgeting & Spending Tips

Summer is around the corner and many families are working on plans for summer vacations.  Vacation spending, in my mind, can be similar to Christmas spending.  If you’re not careful, or haven’t saved in advance, you can end up with a credit card mess to clean up.  No body likes a Christmas spending hang-over and [...]

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How Do You Track Your Personal Spending? (Video)

I’ve learned 3 tips to help with tracking personal spending: 1.  Make sure you have some method for tracking personal spending (don’t try to keep it in your head).  2.  Track personal spending often (daily or every few days). 3.  Don’t over budget with too many subcategories because it makes tracking personal spending too complicated. All that [...]

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