How much time do you spend each week or month budgeting, tracking spending, thinking about your money, paying bills, etc.? These are tasks that I hate, and I , therefore, do not dedicate enough time to do them. Right now money comes in (paychecks are automatically deposited into my checking and savings accounts) and money goes out (bills are paid automatically by my banks and I spend cash and use my debit card). However, I'm not tracking everything I spend (I know that I should be), and I'm not budgeting for the future. I have a (very) small savings, but basically live paycheck to paycheck. I know that tracking spending and budgeting are the way out of this trap, but I'm loathe to get started (again--I've tried before), because of how much time I anticipate it will take. If you are tracking spending and budgeting on a regular (weekly?) basis, how much time does this activity take in order to have a clear picture of your finances and adequately plan for the future? Thanks in advance for your replies.
posted by buddylove on Sep 14, 2011 - 21 answers

Self-employed types with variable monthly incomes: how do you set up and stick to a monthly spending budget? [more inside]
posted by El Curioso on Aug 30, 2010 - 7 answers

Looking for software or an app that will allow me to track expenses via SMS, but that will also allow me to track how much money is left in my account. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Aug 23, 2010 - 3 answers

Please help me find financial management software that both (1) keeps data in sync when used on multiple devices and, (2) works offline. [more inside]
posted by Vorteks on Apr 22, 2010 - 10 answers

Do any online budgeting tools exist that (a) allow manual entries and (b) don't require any access to my account information? [more inside]
posted by Raze2k on Feb 23, 2009 - 6 answers

Asking for a friend: She will be going to Thailand to teach students mostly from Burma and needs some advice. [more inside]
posted by gauchodaspampas on Feb 22, 2007 - 3 answers

I've been tracking my expenses in Quicken in conjunction with using Bank of America's Internet site for bill payment. Primarily, I'd like to get better at managing my cash flow and keeping track of both how I spend my money and what big expenses are coming up. Quicken is working ok for me, but I've got two big problems with it - 1) in order to keep it someplace convenient for me to use it every day I've been storing it on my work computer, which I'm uncomfortable doing and also I'd like my husband to have access to the information, but there doesn't seem to be a good way for us to share the info. What I'd like is on an online solution that works similar to the way BofA works (shows what's cleared the bank, allow online bill payment) but also lets me enters transactions like checks I've written so I (and my husband) know they will clear the bank soon and that we really don't _have_ that money and will let me keep a calendar of upcoming expenses so I can know what my cash flow situation is. I've looked around and all I've found so far was http://www.mvelopes.com which seemed unnecessarily complicated and not calendar based which is really what I'm looking for. I'd like to be able to look at the whole month in advance and see exactly when my bills are due. And again, it needs to be something online so I can access it from any computer and so that my husband and I can both use it. Is there anything like that out there?
posted by katyjack on Jul 17, 2006 - 7 answers

Young married couple, mid-20's, good income: ready to take our finances more seriously. Who do we talk to? [more inside]
posted by junkbox on Oct 19, 2005 - 25 answers