Budgeting Tools

Since I just covered budgeting, I thought a post discussing budgeting tools might be helpful. There are soooo so many ways to maintain your budget, and with a little experimentation you can find a system that truly suits you. So far, I’ve researched or personally tried these:

Getting Started: Creating A Budget

The very first thing I learned about long term financial planning was that I needed a budget. Now don’t freak out on me just yet. A budget isn’t an instrument of torture, I promise.

Provided you are honest about how you spend your money, a budget becomes a powerful planning tool. It not only diagnoses your current financial health, it tells you how close (or far) you are to reaching your goals, be they early retirement, funding your child’s education, or just a relaxing vacation next summer.

I created a budget using the following steps: