Monday, August 5, 2013

Yeah, it's Monday...


It's even Movie Monday, but I couldn't bring myself to watch a movie. Just had no desire to do so, so MM is taking a hiatus for however long I feel like it.

But Fort Worth Friday will return. Sonshine and I had our date yesterday morning and he wielded the camera, so who knows how the pics turned out. Kidding! I'm sure they're fine. I'll be sorting them this week and prepping for future posts.

I still have one last day of pics from Nashville, but I'm sorta tired of the topic, so I'll just post the link to the albums once they're up.

I spent a lot of time on research last week. Not for writing purposes, as I've shifted focus, but for life/financial and business purposes. First I decided I needed an accounting software package for my proofreading business so I Googled those. What I found, eventually, was budget software. Which, yes, I need for business, but actually caught my eye for our personal finances. Its philosophy is simple: Every dollar needs a job. It's easy to use once you get how it all works. It's a very short, barely there learning curve. It also offers a 34-day free trial.

So I downloaded the You Need a Budget software. Herein known as YNAB. All the features are available in the trial. It's not an online thing like Mint.com, though the files are saved into Dropbox and sync with any PCs and devices like smartphones you're gonna use. Very handy!

I added all my data. Figured out how to tweak it to account for all my buckets. That's a term hubby and I use to refer to a specific holding account for something. Like the grocery bucket. All funds designated for food, would be in the grocery bucket. It opened my eyes to how poorly I've managed our money this year. I was--I AM--very disappointed in myself.

I had big plans--as short a time ago as Thursday--for my proofreading earnings. But now I see that aside from the $100 per month I'm putting in a certain credit card bucket (on top of the regular payment plus the payment rolled over from the other CC I just paid off), everything else just needs to go into the main coffer to replenish the money that's been spent here and there on random incidentals over and above the budgeted allowable amount.Yikes!

So back to the drawing board. But now I have my own income that I earn outside of our other business. I feel so much more free and happy and in control of things than I did just a few short months ago. Amazing what a vacation and an attitude adjustment will do for you.

Hope you had a great weekend!!!

3 comments:

Regina Richards said...

Go Jen! The new budgeting software sounds good. :)

Jen FitzGerald said...

Thanks, Regina. You know I'll keep you posted. :)

Unknown said...

Sounds like you're getting things in order! :)