That's exactly it... We have face the toughest financial obstacles over the last three years. I mean the toughest... I think I was looking at this as a way to make sure we maximize our newfound financial lessons.
Honestly I have spent so much time trying to learn the foundation and methodology that I have not really gotten into the meat of it all. I just got our current transactions into my old program (iBank) which at least has me feeling current. Now I will duplicate over to Moneywell and start messing around. Maybe I will just start with a Spending Plan that covers our major bills and a few outside expenses to get a feel for it so i dont feel overwhelmed. On Feb 5, 8:12 am, The Watkinson Family <[email protected]> wrote: > From what it sounds like to me, you don't need software to help > control your spending. How much is the investment of time in money > software (learning and maintaining) actually worth? The only other > thing to look at is the proportion of your savings for short and long > term goals--are you saving enough and is it being saved the right way > (college and retirement savings using the most advantageous incentives/ > tax breaks for your situation). > > It seems like you are doing really well! > > Blair > > On Feb 3, 2009, at 10:33 PM, lterenzi wrote: > > > > > Don't mind me... I have to remember to not try and tackle these things > > after a long day at work. Let me revisit it again after some rest. > > Thanks again foir the help! > > > On Feb 3, 9:05 pm, lterenzi <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Thanks for the detailed response you have given me (and many > >> others!). > > >> I am getting to the point where I am ready to bail on this and return > >> to my normal life and try again some other day. We save plenty of our > >> check, have no real debts anymore, a decent emergency fund, we don't > >> use (or even have) credit cards... > > >> We pay our bills, slide everything else over to savings, keep a bit > >> in > >> checking for daily expenses. If we need a bit more I transfer over. > >> We > >> don't buy or spend impulsively and we certainly do not splurge > >> without > >> all of our bills and commitments having been met. > > >> I have spent so much time just trying to figure this out instead of > >> doing other things that don't frustrate the heck out of me... > > >> Maybe revisiting this down the road would be best for me. > > >> On Feb 4, 7:51 pm, The Watkinson Family <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > > >>> Hello! > > >>> I thought I'd offer a response since no one else has... I've been > >>> teaching a financial class over the last few weeks, and one of the > >>> important lessons I've learned is that there is no perfect month. > >>> Every month is different, with different priorities, challenges and > >>> expenses. Therefore, I've learned that it is important to look at > >>> the > >>> finances every month, before I receive any money and spend every > >>> dollar "on paper," before the month even begins. Every dollar has a > >>> name--that's the exercise you're doing with the Monthly Spending > >>> Plan > >>> by assigning all of your income to buckets. So, I've started to > >>> have > >>> a monthly discussion with my wife about the finances--just 15 > >>> minutes > >>> or so, just to make sure were still on track and that I haven't > >>> overlooked any of the needs that are on the horizon. It also > >>> gives us > >>> a chance to reassess the previous month's spending pattern as well. > > >>> Regarding your concern about things popping up.... There will > >>> always > >>> be these things, and just like there is no perfect month, there is > >>> no > >>> perfect plan. Therefore, it might be a good idea to allocate a > >>> small > >>> portion toward a bucket called Miscellaneous or as one person puts > >>> it, > >>> Blow Money. This will allow for those unexpected trips to a fast > >>> food > >>> restaurant without ruining your plan. Of course, you'll want to > >>> keep > >>> this amount relatively small, consistent with your income, so that > >>> it's not a vacuum for money. > > >>> Also, you'll want to build up an emergency fund. Initially, save > >>> for > >>> a $1,000 emergency fund. This will help keep you from having to go > >>> into debt to pay for bona fide emergencies. After you have this > >>> emergency fund, aggressively pay off your debt using a snowball- > >>> method, then, once you have everything paid off except your > >>> mortgage, > >>> come back and build up your emergency fund to 3-6 months of you > >>> expenses. The emergency fund will help keep emergencies from > >>> breaking > >>> your spending plan and to give your family some security, and give > >>> you > >>> freedom to change jobs or seek out new opportunities, if > >>> appropriate. > > >>> That being said, it is important to have a bucket for everything. > >>> Now, you might have general buckets, like Recreation, which could > >>> include a whole bunch of things from eating out, to movies, > >>> vacations, > >>> etc. And Auto, which includes fuel, service, insurance, > >>> registration > >>> & property taxes. Though I might suggest including the car > >>> payment in > >>> your debt reduction bucket instead of Auto. If you don't have a > >>> bucket for everything, then you'll have some expenses that are > >>> outside > >>> of your plan, and you won't be able to do all that you want to do > >>> with > >>> your money. > > >>> Regarding your specific question about day care. I'm assuming that > >>> since you say "reimbursed" that you have to front the money yourself > >>> for day care, and then your employer pays you back at a later date > >>> for > >>> the money that you spent. Based on this fact, and that you are not > >>> sure whether or not you will use the program as you receive your > >>> paycheck, I'd recommend that you allocate the average cost of > >>> daycare > >>> expenses in every paycheck you receive. The money will grow in the > >>> bucket paycheck to paycheck until you need it. > > >>> Here's how it would work: Suppose that the 4-weeks of day care > >>> costs > >>> $1,000. Suppose also that you earn a paycheck every month for > >>> $5,000. Since you have to pay for day care approximately once every > >>> three months, set aside $335 every paycheck, then after your third > >>> paycheck, you'll have $1,005 saved up. At this point, you can turn > >>> off the allocation to your day care plan and put the money somewhere > >>> else. > > >>> If you use day care, great! You have the money saved up in your > >>> checking account, and you can pay for the full cost. Then, when > >>> your > >>> employer reimburses you, make the deposit into your account and > >>> put it > >>> in your day care expense bucket. This money will just sit in that > >>> bucket until you need it next time. > > >>> If you don't use day care, that works great, too! Just leave the > >>> money you have saved up until the next time that you do. > > >>> You need to save the $335 initially to be sure that you have the > >>> money > >>> and you don't have to put day care on the credit card, however, once > >>> you have saved up for it once, since your employer reimburses you > >>> when > >>> you pay for daycare, you can use that $335 for some other purpose. > > >>> Hope this is helpful! > > >>> Grace to you, > >>> Blair > > >>> On Feb 2, 2009, at 7:22 PM, lterenzi wrote: > > >>>> My daughter is in a year round school program. She goes for > >>>> 9weeks and > >>>> is off for 3 to 4 year round. On some of those off weeks she goes > >>>> to a > >>>> day camp. Can I create a bucket for this and just turn it on and > >>>> off > >>>> as I need it? I never know what months we will use the camp until > >>>> they > >>>> arrive. > > >>>> Now the second part is we get reimbursed the cost of this from our > >>>> Flexible Dependent Care through my wife's employer. Should I just > >>>> deposit them and slide them over to Savings, count them as income? > > >>>> This is my biggest issue (and it's mine NOT Moneywell's) There just > >>>> always seems to be little things that pop up that just don't fit > >>>> neatly into a bucket or things that we just pull from Savings > >>>> from to > >>>> cover. Do I have to have a bucket for everything? > > >>>> Going back to watch videos and read articles again... I am gonna > >>>> get > >>>> this dammit... --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "No Thirst Software User Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
