Skip to main content

APPly Yourself

I went five years without a house payment. While my situation is different now, I must admit, those five years were absolutely blissful. When I paid off my house, I called my sister. She was shocked to say the least, but my announcement got her motivated to get her financial affairs in order. She and her husband started discussing the best way for them to budget.

She asked me how I budgeted. I told her I used a notebook. Her response? “Where do I find that app?”

I literally used (and continue to use) a notebook and a pencil. If you are interested in how I did it, you can find the step-by-step instructions I followed in this book on Amazon. The companion workbook can be found here.

There are lots of tools to help you track your spending. My sister ended up with “Every Dollar.” A friend of mine uses “Mint.” The possibilities are endless. Me? I still prefer to write things down. There’s something about putting a pen or pencil to paper that speaks to me. Talk to your significant other a find your own way to express yourselves.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sunny and 75

While the Intermountain West has had slightly cooler climate than is typical for this time of year, I just know gorgeous weather is right around the corner. Today I wore flip flops in the rain just to make my point. And wearing open-toed shoes without socks is just one of the wonderful things you can do when it’s nice outside! I don’t know about you, but thinking about warm-weather activities makes me want to play hooky from work and play instead. But because I am an accountable adult (most days, anyway), I will NOT forsake my grown-up responsibilities (as bad as I might want to) in favor of longer days and spring and summer fun. I can work before I play. And so can you. Here is a short list of things you should check NOW before the weather gets too hot: THE CHIMNEY – climb on your roof (if it’s safe) or use binoculars to check the exterior, hire a professional for the interior cleaning GUTTERS AND DOWNSPOUTS – make sure they’re clean and make repairs as needed THE ROOF – it’s mu

Who’s the Boss?

If you know me at all, then you know I love Dave Ramsey. In fact, I not only attended a Dave Ramsey affair when it once came to an event center near me, but when I went through Tennessee on a road trip, I hunted him down and visited his studio. I have a picture to prove it (well, it’s somewhere). I always listened to Dave when his show was featured from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on my local talk radio station. One of the things he said frequently (something that he actually borrowed from somebody else–John C. Maxwell) was, “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” If you are getting a tax “refund” this year, I will first invite you to review last week's blog post and the three links to previous blog posts. I would then encourage you to plan for that “refund” money, and I don’t mean blow it as most Americans will do. Be smart. Use it to pay off some debt if you, as most Americans do, have some. If not, save it appropriately.  We've discussed deb

Seriously, It's Just a Number

Disclaimer; I’m going to address a financial subject that I find to be controversial. Here is it–the FICO score. Huh? It’s also referred to as a credit score. Now you get it. The fact that anyone needs to rely on one at all is up for debate, in my humble opinion, but that is not the subject of this post today. We are going to pretend for a minute that I really care about credit scores (which I don’t, and I’ll explain why) and all learn something together. “A FICO score is a  credit score  created by the Fair Isaac Corporation” (thus FICO, their symbol on the New York Stock Exchange). “Lenders use borrowers’ FICO scores along with other details on borrowers’  credit reports  to assess  credit risk  and determine whether to extend credit. FICO scores take into account data in five areas to determine creditworthiness: payment history, current level of indebtedness, types of credit used, length of credit history, and new credit accounts” ( https://bit.ly/3zeBkcW ). I heard Dave Ra