Frugality

In an effort to become more finance savvy and stick to my budget, I have been trying to figure out a super easy way to manage all of my expenses that doesn’t involve carrying around a checkbook to log every transaction as they happen. The humor of this is I used to be addicted to my checkbook when I got my first every debit card, meticulously entering every purchase and ATM withdrawal, complete with finance charges and even entering in anticipated payments. That went by the wayside when I moved out of my house, ironically when managing my expenses was particularly important. I learned real fast how much overdraft charges sucked when my running tally of expenses in my head didn’t match my actual bank account balance.

So, a little internet research and I have found a few websites that would host my expense tracking for me, accessible from any computer linked to the internet. While I do have online banking, I find it difficult to track because purchases don’t show up immediately, and banks play favorites, withdrawing large purchases before small purchases, regardless of time/date of purchase ��" read your newspapers, it’s one of the major reasons for overdraft charges. None of the websites harbor bank accounts, credit card or debit card numbers, so I don’t have to worry about anyone gathering my banking information and stealing my immense wealth. I decided ClearCheckBook.com is for me, after test driving a few websites. One of the websites I tried I discounted because the font was enormous and I felt like I was going blind, others weren’t user friendly enough, or basic enough. I like CCB ‘cause it tallies my balances, including credit cards and posts right on the front account page. Because my credit card balance is technically a negative (as in I made purchases on credit, not actual money I have), it shows me has having a negative balance. Now I can’t avoid the fact that my credit card needs to be paid, it’s plain as day in red ink. Promotes accountability. I guess you could do it the other way, imputing your credit limit then withdrawing any purchases, but credit is fake money to me. CCB also lets me set spending limits, track categories of expenses, set reminders and ‘jive’ with my checking account ��" as in when something clears my bank, I jive my CCB balance. Hopefully this will keep me on the straight and narrow budget line. If I can see that I spend $150 dollars on coffee in one month or some other crazy expense, it will deter me from hitting Starbucks frequently. At least that’s the plan, to promote my own frugal-ness.

I find the most difficult part of my budget is the concept of saving for me. I don’t save for myself. At one point in time I had an emergency fund, it was for my dog. In case he ever needed to go to the vet, needed an operation, or I lost my job and he needed food, no joke. I actively saved for my dog. It came in handy when my roommate left a giant bag of Peanut M&Ms open and he had the whole thing. I thought he was going to die, we went to the vet. The emergency fund was run clean when he did die - non-chocolate related incident; I’ve never resurrected it. If I had kids, I’d be a budgeting diva. Saving for college, and upcoming school necessities, birthday parties, and summer camp, not mention all the food those bottomless pits eat. But I don’t want kids because they are too much hassle, all that bathing and skinned knees with crying and feedings they need, no thank you. What do I need to save for? Vacation? Come on. But with this website, it shows me how much I’m in the ‘green’ or the ‘red.’ Being in the red, thank you very much Capitol One devil, I really covet the green. A nice large green number to pop up on the front page. That’s an incentive to save. Or not to spend. Also, if I enter a saving goal, say, Maui, it will track how much I’ve saved and how much to go. That’s nice, LCD t.v. here I come.

One small step toward frugality, one giant step for Fleur’s financial freedom. Or Maui.