Not my forte…

I use PearBudget.com

I commend you for paying down/off your credit. This is a very wise (and difficult and rewarding) thing. Debt is evil and will rob you of happiness if you let it. Best to slay the dragon as quickly and forcefully as you can.

Make a separate column for each month. Make a separate row for every bill you pay (rent/mortgage, phone, electric, etc). Then spend a few days (or weeks or months–whatever you can do will help) tracking where you actually spend your money (you can get clues from your credit card statements but notice where you drop cash/checks without necessarily realizing it) and add categories for that (i.e., gas, groceries, entertainment, gifts, etc.)

Then try entering the information for a month or two and tweak the row headings as per your comfort. Then look realistically where you can cut. And cut. Try to anticipate where things are going to get icky (do you have a car insurance payment due every 6 months and next month is the month?) and plan accordingly.

Also, it might be worth a call to the credit card company/companies to negotiate a reduced rate. They don’t have to reduce it for you but some will just because you ask. Lower rate means less to pay back. Or consider switching your balance to a lower rate card (pay one card off with another) so you can pay the balance down faster/easier.

Also, pay your credit bills early. Don’t let them zap you with late charges because they claim the payment was late even though you sent it in on time.

Good luck!!

I have absolutely nothing helpful to say about budgeting– I think I am in almost the same boat as you are, but I like to blame my low-paying job rather than my piss-poor money management skills.

P.S. Real Simple 4-eva! I am in love with that magazine. Hello, they have flashcard-y things at the end, so you can review what you have learned. How great is that?

Spreadsheet is really the way to go. It helps (and yes, is a little painful) to see what you’re up against. Like others mentioned, pull your last bank and credit card statements and see where you’re paying stuff you can cut back on and analyze your regular expenditures.

Then little stuff… like when you go out, only pay with cash and decide how much you’re taking in advance. And (sad as it is to say) sometimes limiting how often you go out is good too.

Every little bit helps… good luck!

I also use Pearbudget.com, its a spreadsheet and its saved my life. Seriously. I’m HORRIBLE with money and budgeting (this is the first time i’ve been financially independent and its brutal. I still love to shop but putting it out in a spreadsheet and seeing it all added up really makes you think twice about those new pair of shoes!!

I wish you tons of luck

Okay. I can help. I’m a budgeting genius.

First, I have an Excel spreadsheet and I live by it. I’ve had it since I was 24 years old. I’m 35. It’s helped me stay on track and save several tens of thousands of dollars along the way. I’ll email it to you if you want. What I like about it is that it is simple, and if you lay in all your expenses you will see where you will be in a certain period of time.

Second, don’t do it to the penny and be so strict. Build in a cushion for screw ups. If you want to be really detailed you can, i.e. put in $100 for transportation, then every time you spend money on it, put it on your spreadsheet at the actual amt and deduct it from your $100 total line.

Third, you should pick a method of saving: either budget by month and at the end of each month, whether you have a dollar or $200, you put it all to savings and START ALL OVER WITH ZERO. I think this is the best method for you, because it will force you to live within your monthly budget. But my method is to put $500 in savings a month and whatever is left is my cushion. Either method, or one you like more, could work.

speaking of budgets … yeah, I need one. I’m zero help here, but thought I’d drop in and commiserate. So far, it seems to be working for me to just pay things as they come in, and keep track of the money I spend in excel. For some reason, though, it’s been getting out of control these past few months, and receipts that used to be in my spreadsheet are now in a neglected pile on a chair, pushed neatly beneath the dinner table. I’ll stay tuned to see what you find!

Funny, I was just thinking and reading a lot about personal finance lately! I picked up a book called Smart Women Finish Rich (wrote a bit about it on my blog yesterday), which is very helpful. You should also check out some personal finance blogs, I love Fabulously Broke in the City (fabulouslybrokeinthecity.blogspot.com) and she posts very regularly and also has a sample spreadsheet you can download. Plus, there are tons of links to other finance sites from her blog.

Good luck!! I’m all about conquering the money…;)

I have no advice on a spreadsheet or anything, but I’m definitely trying to do the same thing. Pay down my credit cards and reduce my debt. It’s tough but worth it. Anyways, I prefer Real Simple also.

One tip I got was to track your expenses for a month without a budget to see where you’re spending things and how much you really need to spend. Track every single penny you spend. Once you’ve done that, you can create a budget for every little category (entertainment, food, miscellaneous stuff, etc.) based on how much you spent the month before. I’ve also heard that one of the best ways to stick to a budget is to pay with CASH only. You take out the cash for each category (i.e. $200 for food, $200 for entertainment) at the beginning of the month and put it in an envelope. You only have that money to spend for that month; you can’t take anymore out. When you’re using cash, you’re much more aware of what you’re spending than when you just swipe that little piece of plastic. Good luck. I’ve started saving at least a couple of hundred bucks every paycheck, and it adds up quickly. Transfer some money into savings (make that a category in your budget) at the beginning of the month and don’t touch it. It really makes a big difference. Good luck. Money can be a pain.

Hey.. shoot me an email from an account with a decent inbox and I’ll email you an Excel spreadsheet that’s already created that you can look at. And if the file is too big for your email, I can mail you a cd with it if you’d like.

I’m the last one to offer financial advice, but I read today at the salon about Mint.com, which a couple other freaders have already recommended. Let us know what works!