budgeting

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Is it a good idea to have an “Adventure” expenses category when traveling?

If you’ve read this site for any length of time, you know how about you can obtain best results with your money by tracking your expenses. Moreover, if you categorize your expenses, you can learn even more about how you … Read MoreRead More

How to succeed at your first month of budgeting

  Let’s say you finally decided to make a change and create a budget for your finances. Perhaps you’ve become suitably inspired, or, like the parable of the burning building, the alternative had become that much worse. So what do … Read MoreRead More

How to combine finances when you’re non-monogamous

  So, if you’ve been following along, I talked about commingling finances for couples, and the importance of talking about dreams to get on board together. Then I hedged a bit and talked about how speaking solely of couples is inadequate, … Read MoreRead More

The importance of a shared financial strategy for couples

  In my post about how couples can combine their finances, I ended by stating that if there was any wrong answer on the many ways that such commingling was possible, it was to not talk about your strategy. If … Read MoreRead More

How couples can combine their finances

  So, you found that special someone, and decided to take the leap, either toward cohabitation, or civil union, or marriage, or anything that merits the phrase “take the leap“. Congrats! I bet one thing you’re not thinking about in all … Read MoreRead More

Low-tech alternatives to using an online budget-tracking service

  I admit that when you’re new to something, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and not know where to start. “Just tell me what to do” is a common refrain in this situation (which explains diet books, and I’m not … Read MoreRead More

In-app-ropriate: don’t use an online service to track your spending

  There are numerous sites and apps where you can sign up to manage your money, track your spending, and all of that. From what I’ve seen, they range from okay to horrendous, depending on what their angle is (and … Read MoreRead More

How to plan for yearly bills

  Recently, I had a number of large bills come due at the same time. My web hosting service (that contains this site) came due, and I always renew for as long a time as possible (to get the best … Read MoreRead More

The one category in your budget that you don’t want to forget

  One of the tasks you do when starting out budgeting for the first time is to come up with spending categories for your expenses. These are things like transportation, groceries, clothing, things that you spend money on throughout the … Read MoreRead More

How the handle the stress of budgeting

  I last talked about bare-bones living, and how it requires extra attention and care. But when you’re living so close to the edge, you’re dealing with a lot of stress as it is. So it can be tempting to … Read MoreRead More