Comments on: 10 Easy Ways To Simplify Your Finances

By: Living on Dividends

Living on Dividends — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:15:33 +0000

mmm… 80/20 principle I live my life by that! Good tips!

I also went paperless. Scan to PDF, encrypt, & shred the paper. It’s less stuff to have around since i move a lot. A side benefit is that my SSN isn’t on paper documents anywhere around the house. So if, God forbid, my home is ever broken into, I’m safe from identity theft at least.

By: nancy

nancy — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:00:34 +0000

Great article I am in banking and it amazes me the number of people who do not balance their account or keep a check register. They are ones who bounces checks on a regular basis. I cannot stomach the thought of paying NSF fees which are completely avoidable if you keep your records straight. People please go by what you have and not the ATM it does not know what checks you have written.

By: budget template

budget template — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:13:37 +0000

For me, I use a spreadsheet to do the household budget. With this, I can see where and how many my money has gone. So I can cut expenses for superfluous stuff such as personal shopping and meals. I agree with you on my saving measures: using a checkbook register, and less credit card. I myself now use only one credit card.

By: B Simple

B Simple — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:38:39 +0000

Nice post. #1 is a must. You have to keep your checking account balance in order. Those debits are the ones you forget and can cause your account to be overdraft if you don’t have alert or other things in place to prevent overdrafts.

By: Rick Cadden

Rick Cadden — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Good article! I have not used a check register for years. It’s all on line now and with debit cards the money comes out instantly. Budget on a spreadsheet is a must!Cut up the credit cards unless you like paying 19% interest every month and being a slave to the creditor. On line bill pay is great and very easy and simple. The rest of the ten are great!

By: mewithoutdebt

mewithoutdebt — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:54:02 +0000

“Make Your Budget with a Spreadsheet” is a good start but now there are tons of online and offline software that help and monitor your budget.

By: David Weliver

David Weliver — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:35:17 +0000

John, I’ll be watching your product and others like it with interest. My bank is rolling out a new debt card with rewards this fall, and it may get me to start using credit cards less and debit cards more.

The two big reasons I don’t use my debit card exclusively are:

1. The bank debit cards I’ve used don’t break down purchases by date and category as well as credit card statements. (The transactions are in my bank statements, but not as neatly).

2. (And this is perhaps a bigger deal) Fraud protection. Most banks won’t hold you liable for fraudulent debit card use if you report it quickly, but any money thieves access comes out of your bank account. And that money is gone until the bank returns it.

Both my parents and brother had their debit cards hacked several times in one year and had their bank accounts *drained*. They got the money back, but only after several days of correspondence with their bank. That’s something I want to try and avoid.

By: John Magee

John Magee — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:57:40 +0000

Really great tips – I’m a huge fan of index funds and financial automation (paying yourself automatically & online bill pay). Instead of a credit card (or going to cash, as you’re considering), why not a debit card – especially one that gives you rewards comparable to a credit card? It will provide the spending control of cash without sacrificing credit card benefits.

[Disclosure: I work at PerkStreet, where we are launching a debit card with superior rewards in a few weeks]

By: Hank

Hank — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:45:35 +0000

I agree 100% about using a budget on Excel, but I think that the Excel version of a check register would be beneficial…much more so than the old paper version.

By: David Weliver

David Weliver — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:01:51 +0000

Yeah, I’m having a blast applying Pareto’s Law to my stuff. I’m in the process of doing it to my wardrobe too (donating the 80 percent of clothes I wear 20 percent of the time; it feels great!)

As for credit cards, I used to use an AMEX charge card (cause it *had* to be paid in full every month), but I’m going to cancel it and will stick with a MC for that reason—there’s nowhere I won’t be able to use it.