balance a checkbook

Mom and Dad, Your Financial Decisions Matter

Posted 1 year 2 weeks ago by Sarah Winfrey

With Mother's Day in the recent past and Father's Day two days ago, I wanted to give credit where credit is due and encourage all the parents out there who are trying to teach their kids about money. Those things you're doing at home? They're working. Your kids are hearing it! Read below for some more suggestions as to what you can do to teach your kids about money. They worked on me!

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Budgeting for the rest of us, or How to follow a budget without breaking down in tears

Posted 1 year ago by Sarah Winfrey

Filed Under: Budgeting

My budget?

Budgeting can be difficult. For some people (like me!), it brings up things that they may not want to see. For others, it's a necessary but frustrating tool to curtail spending, or a painful reminder of how much they overspent, yet again. But there are a few people who live well on a budget. These few manage to record their spending and yet aren't overwhelmed by that. They see where they spend too much and yet don't give up the budget. Month after month they take the time to collect their receipts, enter them, and evaluate based on the results. They aren't overwhelmed or discouraged, and they don't give up. Instead, they plug away at it until they get their spending under control, and then they often keep at it to have a record of their money goes. Slowly, slowly, I'm becoming one of them, and here is what I've learned along the way.

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Balancing Act: The Perils of Budgeting

Posted 1 year ago by Sarah Winfrey

Filed Under: Budgeting

Balancing Rocks

For years, I've not had a budget because I didn't think I needed one. I never spent more money than I made and I entered every transaction into my checkbook as soon as I made it (or, well, enough of them that it didn't much matter, anyway). I was sure to save some of my money (I even got a high-yield account from ING), and I even invested a little. I thought that budgets were for people who spent too much, and I simply didn't.

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