Comments on: 30 Days to a Better Man Day 16: Create a Budget

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:02:59 +0000

I have a very simple budget where you only have to remember one number. You have to figure out what you can spend every day. I record it on the Tasks fuction in Gmail so I can get to it whenever I’m online.

I know what my take home pay is per month, and my monthly expenses. A simple subtraction leaves the amount of money left over per month. Then, divide by 31 days to determine your daily allowance. Round down to the nearest number to give yourself a bit of fudge room. I then collect every receipt and throw it away when I have taken it out of my budget. ATM visits come out instants, ignoring cash in hand. Once a month I remove all of my automatic deductions. Don’t forget that you’ll have many unexpected expenses that you have to calculate.

For example, you start at zero. On your first day you add your daily balance. Let’s say it’s $50. If throughout the first day you spend $20, you are now at $30, and your new number the next morning is $80. The next day you might have a $200 expense, so you would be negative, but at least you’d know it and spend less the next couple of days. It can be quite depressing to be below zero, but at least you know exactly where you stand every day.

By: Eating on the cheap when you’re broke – My Experience | The Going Broke Blog

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:14:35 +0000

[...] pocket or bank account to see where it goes. I promise you, you will be surprised. Good advice at Art of Manliness, Mighty Bargain Hunter, About.com, and [...]

By: How to be a Gentleman - Neosynthesis

How to be a Gentleman - Neosynthesis — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:35:48 +0000

[...] have been hunting for a simple way to create a budget and i happened upon this article on The Art of Manliness site that awakens my 1930s ephemera sensibilities. (which is just a fancy [...]

By: 30 Days to a Better Man Wrap-Up | The Art of Manliness

30 Days to a Better Man Wrap-Up | The Art of Manliness — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:02:38 +0000

[...] Day 16: Create a Budget [...]

By: links for 2009-06-25 at So It’s Come To This:

links for 2009-06-25 at So It’s Come To This: — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:06:58 +0000

[...] 30 Days to a Better Man Day 16: Create a Budget | The Art of Manliness (tags: life money budget hacks Manliness finance) [...]

By: Lane

Lane — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:17:13 +0000

I want to thank Brett and Kate for the Mint recomendation. I got an account immediately after reading this post. Thanks AoM.

By: 30 Days to a Better Man Day 25: Start a Debt Reduction Plan | The Art of Manliness

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:52:55 +0000

[...] Go back to your budget that you created a few days ago. How much do you have set aside for paying down debt? Could you set aside more? You might be thinking to yourself, “There’s no money left to go towards paying down my debt! I’ve reached my limit.” But I’ve found if we look hard enough and are willing to sacrifice, we can always find more money that can go towards paying down our debt. For example, you could get rid of cable, share one car with your spouse, or take your lunch to work instead of eating out. Do enough of these little things and you’ll quickly have a nice wad of cash that can go towards paying down your debt. [...]

By: Weekly Link Round: Week 3 of 30 Days to a Better Man | The Art of Manliness

Weekly Link Round: Week 3 of 30 Days to a Better Man | The Art of Manliness — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:00:13 +0000

[...] Day 16: Create a Budget. Some of you are using budgets already. And that’s great. But if you’re not, make sure you make some time this weekend to sit down and get your finances in order. And be sure to share you budgeting tips and advice with us in the Community. [...]

By: learning to create a budget « medicinal marzipan

learning to create a budget « medicinal marzipan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:31:22 +0000

[...] The Art of Manliness, 30 Days to a Better Man Day 16: Create a Budget [...]

By: Dustin

Dustin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:31:51 +0000

Hey, don’t forget me! OK, I’m a new player on the budget scene. I’m just getting released. But if you are interested I would love it if you would check out http://inzolo.com and give me some feedback. It’s a web based envelope budgeting tool. Thanks!

By: Marc D.

Marc D. — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:56:40 +0000

This is great since after I graduated High School I knew I needed to start a budget before I go to college.

By: Nickoli

Nickoli — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:40:42 +0000

@Jason Y:
You can use a feature called “protected cells” to prevent accidentally overwriting cells that you shouldn’t.

By: Jason Y

Jason Y — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:51:38 +0000

More marriages end because of disagreements / stress / fights over _finances_ than for any other reason. It pays to work out a budget with your spouse, and stick to it!

Thanks for the suggestions on software to use. I used to wonder “Why not just create a spreadsheet for everything? That puts the USER in control!” Then I created a combination budget / ledger spreadsheet for my wife and I to use. Well, the problems we have encountered include:
-inability to dynamically or programmatically add a column, row, or worksheet to a workbook.
-slow sorting algorithms, requiring us to spread our data across multiple worksheets when one worksheet would otherwise work better
-I can’t figure out how to make filter / search / query filters work!
-You cannot control what users can and cannot change on a spreadsheet–They can overwrite formulas with data without even a warning message!

So we have an unwieldy beast. It actually works pretty well, but every time we have to add a spending category or something, we have to go through a 12-step ceremony to set it up, then double-check our formulas.

By: Tommy C

Tommy C — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:52:22 +0000

I’m also a huge Mint fan. I’m bad about keeping a paper log for expenses, so Mint keeps me in check when I spend much more than I thought on some projects.

By: Certified debt management programs

Certified debt management programs — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:36:10 +0000

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