When planning a budget, most people generally remember their typical monthly expenses – bills, groceries, savings, etc. But there are two commonly forgotten about items that should definitely be on your list: clothing and personal care. This can include seasonal clothing items, haircuts and color, manicures, massages, you name it! These are things we all spend money on, but not necessarily frequently, so we tend to let their cost slip our minds.
Education
Houses, Cars, and Money – Oh My!
Like many others in their 20’s (and even 30’s), I’m feeling the pressures of adulthood – college is over, a career has been obtained, and it’s time to be a real-life grown-up! Friends are getting married, buying houses, and starting families. As excited as I am to join this elusive club of workaholics and soccer moms, it’s hard to not be at least a little intimidated by all of the dollar signs associated with some of those things. However, for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like these things are so far out of reach. With a little planning, larger purchases are most definitely attainable, and with a new car and a house on my horizon, I’ll spend the next year proving just that! So where do I even start?
How to Save Money
We have a variety of posts around here about specific ways to save money, but what about a general money saving strategy? How does one get started on the path to saving a million dollars?
Beware of Credit Monitoring Services
Recently I was looking around for credit reporting services to recommend on BudgetSimple when I realized that almost every company that offers these services is really just a shady subscription service in disguise.
5 Ways To Keep Your Financial Resolutions This Year
It’s a new year, and that means you’ve made some resolutions, maybe this year it’s a financial resolution again. But how can we ensure we stick to our resolution this time?
A Financial Success Game Plan – The BudgetSimple Financial Ladder
Everyone has different philosophies about how to get out of debt and build savings. Here is the basic strategy we recommend you follow. You may already be doing these things, but I ve tried to order all of my strategies by importance, so ideally you ll do number one before number two, etc
When I’m Rich
An idea that I think may be uniquely American is that almost everyone has a belief that they will be rich someday. Ask any kid in 7th grade to describe their future and more often than not it’s not “be a fireman” anymore but “when I’m rich I’ll…”. Even 40 year old adults I talk to still say “when I’m rich”… I think this attitude is what makes our country have so many entrepreneurs and innovators, but is the goal even worth it?
Mint vs BudgetSimple
Since the question comes up often enough, I thought it was worth comparing BudgetSimple to Mint, how they are different and how they can be used together.
Should I Budget For Christmas?
Christmas is the season of giving, and that’s the perfect time to throw our budgets to the wind and make everyone we know happy right? You probably know what’s coming here, but no, December isn’t the time to ignore your budget, and this is often the most critical time of year for your finances.
