It's good to know about Mint, although I am dubious about selling credit cards. Does it work for people outside the US?
(I have to say, my experience with debt and getting out of it the hard way has made me extraordinarily resistant when it comes to credit card advertising. My bank offered me a limit increase because of my "excellent payment record". I laughed as I shredded it)
For me, I use an excel spreadsheet that jarrow made for me. I'm pretty lucky in that I get paid fortnightly--I have my expenses worked out. If they're coming out of my bank account in the next week, it stays in my bank account. If it's going to be longer than a week, it goes into my savings account--takes a week to clear, then a business day to access so I can't impulse spend.
I add up my expenses (monthly ones divided in two) and add a fudge factor for savings/emergencies. That gets withdrawn into my savings account. My regular payment goes on my credit card and if there's anything left it gets divided in three. One part goes to my home saving account (there's almost $200 in there! And I can't access it) the other goes on my credit card and the third either gets transferred to savings if I don't have anything on or I take it out in cash.
That way I know--if I have cash, I can spend it. If not, I don't touch it. I'm generally pretty good about not spending it. I have a first date tomorrow--he's said he'll pay (insisted on it. Whatever, I'm paying next time) but I've got $50 in case it all goes horribly pear-shaped and I need to get away in a hurry. If I turn out not to need to spend it, I'll buy a book with half of it and the other half is going into savings.
The spreadsheet does have it's drawbacks. It's not automatic, you HAVE to update it. But doing that every day means you know how much money you have and how much you're going to need and what you can spend. It's a way of keeping finances in mind. Occasionally I fail, and if it's a couple of days before month's end I just start afresh with the new month.
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Date: 2010-03-05 01:17 pm (UTC)It's good to know about Mint, although I am dubious about selling credit cards. Does it work for people outside the US?
(I have to say, my experience with debt and getting out of it the hard way has made me extraordinarily resistant when it comes to credit card advertising. My bank offered me a limit increase because of my "excellent payment record". I laughed as I shredded it)
For me, I use an excel spreadsheet that
I add up my expenses (monthly ones divided in two) and add a fudge factor for savings/emergencies. That gets withdrawn into my savings account. My regular payment goes on my credit card and if there's anything left it gets divided in three. One part goes to my home saving account (there's almost $200 in there! And I can't access it) the other goes on my credit card and the third either gets transferred to savings if I don't have anything on or I take it out in cash.
That way I know--if I have cash, I can spend it. If not, I don't touch it. I'm generally pretty good about not spending it. I have a first date tomorrow--he's said he'll pay (insisted on it. Whatever, I'm paying next time) but I've got $50 in case it all goes horribly pear-shaped and I need to get away in a hurry. If I turn out not to need to spend it, I'll buy a book with half of it and the other half is going into savings.
The spreadsheet does have it's drawbacks. It's not automatic, you HAVE to update it. But doing that every day means you know how much money you have and how much you're going to need and what you can spend. It's a way of keeping finances in mind. Occasionally I fail, and if it's a couple of days before month's end I just start afresh with the new month.