budget | Online Savings Blog

7 Online Tools to Optimize Your Budget
10.30.08 | Money Management | 0 Comments | by junger
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The number of Web sites and online applications available for you to manage your money and improve your finances keeps growing all the time.

CNNMoney.com has put together a slideshow of 7 technologies for optimizing your budget.

These are targeted at small businesses, but are certainly applicable to many home users.

They include:
The only one of these I can highly recommend is Yodlee, which I've been using for over a year.

Have you used any of these services? What do you think of them?

Let us know in a comment.
We're Going On Vacation: How We're Saving For It
04.03.08 | Consumerism, Money | 0 Comments | by junger

For the first time since we've been married, Debbie and I are no longer on school vacation schedules. Debbie's new job, while in a preschool, is technically more of a daycare-type position, so she works year-round without spring/winter/summer breaks.

It's different for her, since she has always worked on school schedules — but now she actually accrues vacation days. So, we've been looking to head out of town for a vacation for awhile now, and we finally settled.

At the end of May, we'll be flying across the country to Los Angeles and driving up the California coast.

We love California, so it'll be exciting — but could also get expensive. We got a great deal of flights via Airtran, but we still need places to stay, a rental car, and things to see.

Yahoo! Finance has a great article on last-minute ways to save for vacations — we'll be heeding many of these tips.

1. Start with a spending plan
2. Sacrifice now for fun later
3. Build cash with a 'Pantry Week'
4. Eat out less, save big
5. Make a savings wall chart
6. Sell your stuff
7. Use your tax refund — now
8. Let credit cards pay you back

The biggest thing we'll be doing is cutting back on our spending in April in preparation and trying to put that money aside for the trip. We're also on the lookout for great deals, including hotel stays with included tickets to attractions and cheap rental cars.

It helps that May is one of the two months I'll receive a third paycheck (thanks to three Fridays), but we don't want to count on that entirely for paying for the trip.
What Did You Do Before Online Banking?
02.19.08 | Online Banking | 2 Comments | by junger

Open thread here: what did you do before online banking?

This might sound like a silly question, but for as long as I've been managing my money, I've been banking online. I honestly don't know life without it.

But you might.

How did you manage your money before you had access to the Internet? Did you use software like Quicken, or keep a hand budget?

How about balancing your checkbook? (I've never done it before.)

Did you (do you) keep all your receipts? I just check my charges online, since I pretty much only use a debit card.

Let us know: what did you do before online banking?
Where Did My Money Go?
01.03.08 | Money | 3 Comments | by junger

You know you have to save money. You'd like to start investing. You'd like to go on a vacation.

But you don't have the money for it. Each of these scenarios leads you to the question: where did my money go?

This is the fundamental question to beginning your financial responsibility. The first step in simple money management is to spend less than you earn.

Chances are you know how much money you make. But do you know exactly how much money you spend, and where it goes?

Being as detailed as possible in tracking your spending is a huge first step to proper money management.

Here's how I do it.

I keep receipts for nearly every transaction I make, both cash, debit and credit card purchases. When I get home, I put them on my desk to add to my budget notebook, which tracks all my spending.

The most important receipts to ensure that you get are for purchases with tips and gas purchases. You'll find out why in a minute.

I also log onto my checking account online all the time, to double check that my transactions are correct and to find out when my monthly bills have been automatically deducted.

Online banking also helps when I forget to get a receipt or lose it somewhere in the process.

As I said before, certain receipts are more important to keep: gas and purchases with tips. This is because, when you buy things with a debit card, the correct transaction amount does not appear until the payment has cleared.

When you go out to a restaurant and pay (with tip) on your debit card, you'll notice that the pending transaction only deducts the amount for the meal: not the tip. So you can't rely on this number instead of a receipt — at least not if you add the purchase to your budget that day.

On the gas side, funds do not get deducted from debit cards (even those acting as credit cards) automatically. The process normally takes a few days.

So, I always keep my gas receipts to add to my budget that day, so I don't wait for it to appear online and forget about adding it.

In addition to keeping a budget with my monthly spending, I track my expenses online via Yodlee. The number isn't as precise as my hand-written budget, but once you've categorized a few of your transactions, Yodlee does the rest.

Want to start saving more money? Find out where your money is going first.

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