by Sheri Harrison

When it comes to money management, many of us are aware of the importance of monthly budgeting. Creating a budget allows us to develop a spending plan for our money while helping us to identify ways that we can save. It may be easier to stick to a budget when the spending activity is based on one individual.	Image courtesy of sdmania / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
How then do we successfully budget when incomes are combined or shared amongst loved ones? We’ll take a personal look at my transition from managing my own money to budgeting for two using a budgeting tool. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

If you have an irregular income (due to owning your own business, being on commission, working a job with varied hours, etc.) it can be hard to know how to set up a budget.

You never know what you’ll bring home each month, so the typical budgeting advice may not seem like it applies to you. After all, how can you budget when you don’t know what you’re going to make?

Turns out, it is possible. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

Having trouble sticking to your budget? Try making your bed everyday. Why? Well, according to Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, making your bed is correlated with better productivity and sticking with a budget. While I couldn’t find the study where that correlation is shown, I can believe it.

That’s because changing one thing can change how you think — in addition to creating a sort of domino effect that impacts other areas of your life.
Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and ordered everything on the menu? Of course not. You can’t eat all that food in a single meal, and you know it. Plus, you may not even like everything on the menu. So you don’t waste the time, money, or food.

Instead, you choose the food that you’re in the mood for, or that you think would take taste the best, or that you’d like to give a try. You choose what you want most.

That’s how budgeting works. Except you create the menu. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

As a personal finance writer, I’m conflicted. I really believe in the power of budgeting — especially a zero-based budget. It can do amazing things for you. In fact it’s awesome, especially if you’re in debt or working toward some other financial goal.

But I know that many people hate budgeting. Sadly, extolling the virtues of one isn’t going to change their mind. Heck, even I don’t use a budget anymore (although I found zero-based budgeting massively helpful for many years, and still highly recommend it.)

So if you don’t want to give budgeting a solid try (meaning for at least 6 months), or if you find yourself with extra money available every single month, consider using the no-budget budget. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jackie Beck

Set out to make a budget, and you’ll quickly discover that there’s no such thing as a perfect month. Instead, there are usually unplanned expenses galore — at least at first. Read the rest of this entry »