Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Chronic Vagueness

March 3rd, 2011 by Dewayne | Posted in Budgeting, Consumerism, Good Advice, I Need a Plan, Uncategorized

One of our users coined this term to me the other day and honestly, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.  What is Chronic Vagueness, and how does that apply to personal finance?  The answer is certainly much more clear than the term.

I guess if we apply the definitions of these two words, it makes more sense.  ”Chronic” means, constant, habitual, continuing a long time or recurring frequently.  ”Vagueness” means, not established, determined, confirmed, or known.  Putting both together, “Chronic Vagueness” could be a constant, habitual thought or set of actions that are done without an established, determined, or known set of facts.  Does that describe how you feel about your personal finances?

One of the things I love the most about what I do is talking with people that are clearing the chronic vagueness from managing their personal finances. Just recently, I spoke with a BudgetSketch user that was struck by the fact that her and her husband were understanding clearly their financial position for the first time, and BudgetSketch was working to help them create new habits and patterns of thinking about their finances.  Since she could see her budget plan in one view, she manages it daily by tracking her actual spending against her plan.  She said they have eliminated several hundred dollars of wasted money per month, and have already planned the payoff of their second vehicle over the next 3 months.  All of this is happening because they’ve changed their habits, and have a clear well-defined plan for moving forward.  I hear a lot of stories like this, and it’s music to my ears.

Many people “manage” their personal finances in a state of chronic vagueness.  Spending behavior is habitual, with no plan for how their money will be spent or even knowing if they can afford the constant spending patterns they’ve established every month.  Once a person tries to get a handle on this, it seems daunting, as it could be really hard to get their arms around.

BudgetSketch is as much a tool to remove the “chronic” spending behaviors, as it is medicine for removing the “vagueness” out of establishing a plan or even knowing your true financial situation.  It does this by first showing you a clear picture of your financial situation, and then it works to change chronic spending behaviors.  In BudgetSketch you’ll plan to spend, not just spend.

If you’ve made a plan to only spend $50 this week for work lunches, and by using BudgetSketch, you know you’ve already spent $50 by Wednesday of the week, you have a decision to make for the 2 remaining workdays.  In the past, you may have just continued to buy your lunch for Thursday and Friday, spending $70, but since you now know you’ve already spent your plan for the week, you can make some modifications.  Maybe you bring your lunch the next two days, or perhaps you reduce $20 from some other budget item.  Regardless, when you know, the vagueness is removed, and the chronic behavior of spending an extra $20 for the week on lunch is now a decision to make, not just a chronic behavior.

This is working for my family, and for many BudgetSketch users all over the world.  I would love to hear about your successes or best practices to remove the “chronic vagueness” from your personal finance management. You can do it!

The Cart and the Horse

July 12th, 2010 by Dewayne | Posted in Budgeting, General, Good Advice, I Need a Plan, Uncategorized

There seems to be a flurry of activity these days when it comes to conversations about personal finance management.  What applications are best to use, what are the best methods of tracking your finances, who has the slickest tools, account aggregation, etc.  Two and a half years after creating BudgetSketch, it amazes me how little this conversation has changed.

Horse and Cart

When we set out to solve our own personal finance issues, it became painfully clear to me that tracking expenses alone was an almost fruitless exercise.  My wife and I tried many personal finance management tools, but they all did the same thing… tracked my spending.  I would look back at what I spent last month, then still scratch my head as to why our money was just gone.  I could see things like a hundred dollars for the month being spent at the local coffee shop, but nothing about that information told me if I could afford it or not, only that I spent it.  It all seemed so reactionary and frankly frustrating.

“Putting the cart before the horse” is a common phrase meaning to reverse the accepted order of things.  This statement is also an example of a hysteron proteron in Greek, in grammatical terms, meaning a figure of speech used to describe a thing that should come second, but is put first.  We’ve all said, “Put on your shoes and socks” to our kids, but we all know that you must put your socks on first before your shoes.

The same applies to personal finance.  We spend so much time focusing on the need for expense tracking (“The Cart”) that we fail to see the Cart is really useless without “The Horse” (a Budget).  It began to dawn on me that my plan for how I will spend money is the first thing to establish, then I should track how well I’m doing against this plan.

Expense tracking has it’s place in our arsenal of tools, but only implemented to help validate how well we’re sticking to our Budget plan.  So it has to make you wonder why there are so many tools focused solely on expense tracking with a spending alert feature masquerading as a budget.  If you’ve reached that conclusion… you’re not alone.

The saying is best said, “Never put the cart before the horse”, so why do we try and manage our financial lives this way?  Take hold of your financial future by taking the reins and tell that horse where to go.  Establish a solid budget plan and stick to it, and only look back long enough to validate how well you’re moving forward.

It’s time to change the conversation about personal finance and get real about solutions instead of allowing ourselves to be convinced by who has the best pie charts.  Personal finance is about a plan, everything else is a support mechanism for that plan.

It’s time to change the accepted order of things… one budget at a time.

BudgetSketch: Proud Sponsor of Cincy Day of Agile

April 15th, 2010 by Bill | Posted in Uncategorized

Cincinnati Day of Agile – Registration Opens Today

Registration opens TODAY at noon. Seating for this event is very limited and this event is going to quickly sell out. Do not wait – register today at http://cincydayofagile.eventbrite.com/.

What is Cincinnati Day of Agile?

As the Agile project management process sweeps across the software industry, businesses not understanding the details are being left behind. The Cincinnati Day of Agile is an opportunity to understand what Agile is all about and hear from people that have used it, succeeded with it and have the results to prove it.

Cincinnati Day of Agile

At this one day event on Saturday, May 15th, a host of industry experts will be on hand to offer their hard won experiences. By bringing together a mix of developers, managers, Agile professionals, and technologists, the Cincinnati Day of Agile also provides excellent networking opportunities for its attendees. We hope you will join us to learn how Agile can make your software development process more effective, productive, and profitable.

More about the event can be found at http://cincydayofagile.org/.

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

March 18th, 2010 by Dewayne | Posted in Budgeting, Good Advice, I Need a Plan, Uncategorized

Life can certainly be complicated.  Juggling work with family responsibilities, combined with financial stress is all too common in many households.  Notice I said, “can” be complicated.  Many times we work against ourselves and make challenges into very complicated matters.  Managing your finances is no exception.

I’ve been on a bent for the last several years to find ways to simplify my life.  I look at my growing children and think, “How much am I missing because my life is disorganized?”  Understand, I’m in no way qualified to be an expert in organization, but I do believe we can simplify our lives.  Reduce the noise and the stresses, but continue to do the things that matter the most to us.

While I’m in no position to offer suggestions in many areas of life, one I feel very confident in is how to simplify money management.  Recently, I came across an excellent article written by Jennifer Derrick at SavingsAdvice.com, where she talks about simplifying financial management.

Jennifer wrote:

When people set out to make a budget or adhere to a financial plan, they sometimes make things so complicated that they have no chance of success. They set up accounts at many institutions, they open ten credit cards to maximize the rewards, they make too many rules about what can and cannot be bought, and they try to divide their budget into too many categories. As a result, they end up with a financial plan that is too complicated and that even they don’t understand.

When a financial plan/life is super complicated, you don’t want to deal with it. The thought of balancing all those accounts, paying all the different credit cards and dealing with the rewards, tracking all the budget categories, and adhering to all the rules is exhausting. You may only be able to keep up with a complicated plan for a month or two before you throw up your hands, declare it’s all too hard, and give up, leaving your finances to go their own way (which is almost never in the direction they should be going).

This is why it’s important to keep your financial life as simple as possible. The simpler something is, the more likely you are to keep up with it and actually live by that plan. When dealing with your accounts and your budget is easy and not too time consuming, you’re more likely to find time for it instead of putting it off.

Jennifer couldn’t be more right!  Managing your finances is not something that should be complicated.  You may have some complex financial issues to solve, but a simple plan is the most effective way of unraveling that complexity.  If you’re committed to losing weight and improving your health, a complex diet and exercise plan won’t be sustainable for most people.  Same goes for effective personal finance management.

The place to get started is a simplified financial plan. BudgetSketch was specifically designed to simplify the management of your finances.  Get started by creating a budget and getting a visual of your financial situation. Remember, keep things simple.  Reduce clutter and complexity, and begin to feel empowered again!  I know you can do it! :)

THE WINNER!! iPod Touch Giveaway…

July 7th, 2009 by Dewayne | Posted in Uncategorized

Congratulations to Budgetsketcher Michael H.!!!  Based upon the contest requirements and a random selection process, Michael was selected as the Winner of the BudgetSketch iPod Touch Giveaway!!

Contest:Calling All Spreadsheet Budgeters!! Win an iPod Touch!!

All of us at BudgetSketch would like to extend our thanks to Michael and to all of our users who participated in this contest.  We received a lot of valuable feedback and have cataloged some very useful suggestions!

We’re always eager to hear from our users, so if you feel compelled, we would love to hear more about how you use BudgetSketch and how we can make it more useful.  You can contact us here at our blog or at Budgetsketch.com.ipod touch

Once again, congratulations to Michael! We hope you enjoy the new iPod!!!

Sincerely,

Your friends at BudgetSketch

“We are a small but dedicated team building BudgetSketch the “old fashioned” way, slowly and economically.”

Using Predictability To Your Advantage

June 4th, 2009 by Dewayne | Posted in Uncategorized

BudgetSketch is all about sound planning… all about intentional money management. We built our budgeting software around the idea that in order to use predictability to your advantage, you need to plan ahead. Now… some think planning ahead means things like retirement planning, or anything that involves long range goals. Not so! Our system requires people to look at the next month or two and decide what to do with their money.

We all know our recurring expenses, and it’s nice to see those laid out for us, but what about all the stuff each month that falls under the ambiguous miscellaneous expense column? How do we get a handle on the expenses that we forget about or catch us by surprise? How do we properly manage our cash flows each month so that we handle life’s expenses and still meet our financial goals? Intentional planning is the key!

Jennifer Derrick, author and blogger at SavingsAdvice.com is a person who gets it. She recently blogged about the principle of Use Predictability To Your Advantage: Planning Ahead Saves Money, where she expertly describes a number of ways to save money by “looking down the road”. I encourage you to read the full article, but here are a few of her ideas that can be easily applied using BudgetSketch:

  • Know your bill pay dates and deadlines to make sure you get payments in on time and avoid late fees. They’re often the same month to month, so it’s easy to plan for this.
  • You know Christmas is coming, so save a little each month to avoid a big money hit in December.
  • Plan summer and weekend activities/entertainment for the kids so you have time to buy supplies on sale, enroll them in programs (at early registration discounts), pre-purchase tickets at a discount, and get up to speed on specials like free summer movies at the theater or kid’s days at local attractions.
  • Plan back to school shopping and buy as much as you can on end of season sales the year before and on tax-free holidays if possible. Paper, pencils, crayons and glue will last into the following year.
  • You have a general idea of when you need to buy things. Maybe you buy pet food once a month, laundry detergent twice a month, cleaning supplies every two months, etc. You know when it’s time to start thinking about buying more, so watch the sale flyers and plan your purchases to take advantage of sales. It beats running out to buy pet food at the highest price because you waited too long and now Fido is out of chow.
  • Similarly, you know when big things start to look like they need replacing or repair. The warning signs are usually clear. You can tell the car is on it’s last legs, you know you need a new computer because yours is too slow, you know the couch is developing an uncomfortable sag, and you can tell when the oven just isn’t heating right any more. Use those early warning signals and start looking for the best deal on repair or replacement, rather than waiting until the item is totally dead and you have to buy a new one at full price immediately.
  • You know that things like insurance payments, vet visits, and taxes occur at certain times of the year, so look ahead and save a little for them each month to avoid being shocked when the bill comes due.

Using good ideas with the right tools is the only effective way to manage our own micro-economies. What other ideas can you think of that fit the principle of using predictability to your advantage?

The Real Math – Credit Cards

June 4th, 2009 by Dewayne | Posted in Uncategorized

Someone over at MoreNewMath.com seems to understand things pretty well! :)

Real Math