Working For Financial Freedom

Free Tools to Keep Track of Your Money

Welcome to Working For Financial Freedom. If this is your first visit please read about this blog. You can keep updated by subscribing by email or to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

One of the first things someone might ask themselves then they take a look at their empty wallet and maxed out credit card is “Where did all my money go?” Having a budget and actually USING it is one of the biggest ways to get rid of debt and keep it from ever growing again.

Keeping track of your budget will tell you how much you spend and where you spend it. This can enable you to plan ways to cut back so that you are able to throw more money at your debt.

Now, in order to actually use a budget, you need to write it down. Somewhere. Anywhere. As long as you can reference it when you need to. Of course, the more organized you are, the better you will be able to track your money and your spending. If your budget is penciled on post-it notes strewn throughout the house; there is a good chance that you might forget to deduct a payment or forget about an upcoming expense. Important Tip: keep it in one place.

Some ways to keep track of your budget:

Pencil, Paper and a Calculator

Create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel

Microsoft’s pre-made Budget Excel Spreadsheets - this is what I use. I’m able to modify the spreadsheets to fit my needs without having to create a new one from scratch.

Spreadsheets from JimnKim These spreadsheets are created by Dave Ramsey followers. There are over twenty different spreadsheets to download including a Snowball Calculator than can help you figure out when you will be able to pay off your debt.

Quicken

Do you use something else not listed here? Are you like me and have tried a few different things?