"Budget" - Sounds like a cuss word to me.

I graduated a month ago. WOW, how time flies. The past 30 days have been a period of adjustment. One thing I have had to adjust is my spending habits, specfically tracking my dollars, and having a plan for them. In the past 30 days my net income has doubled from what it was prior to going through TIY. Which is a testiment to the Iron Yard and their ability to deliver on their promises. I have made more money than I ever have before, and it's all gone...

What happened you ask?

BILLS! lol, I was behind on more than a few bills and thankfully I am well on my way to getting where I need to be. I didn't splurge or buy any new tech gadgets :(. One thing that I sat down to do this week was to create a budget. I have tried to budget in years past, and HATED it. I felt restricted, and felt like I couldn't do what I wanted to do because of the darn budget. However I discovered a budegeting method that is diffrent from the things I've tried in the past. It's called You Need a Budget or YNAB (pronounced: 'why-nab') for short.

The YNAB method is made up of 4 rules, and a software tool that brings it all together. The rules are simple:

• Rule 1: Give every dollar a job.
• Rule 2: Save for a rainy day.
• Rule 3: Roll with the punches.
• Rule 4: Live on last months income.

You can go to their site to learn all about the method in detail. If you decide to give it a try, let me know. The software is priced at $60 bucks, and they offer a 34 days free trial (no credit card required) - Do the trial, and see how much money you save. They say the average user saves about $250 bucks after a month of using the method, after 9 months the average user has saved $3500...

Personally I have socked away $130 thus far, and have paid down a TON of debit also. We'll see after a full month of usage what the final number actually is. When you visit the YNAB site through any links posted on my blog, you'll be going through my affiliate link. If you buy through my link, you'll get a six dollar discount making the software $54 bucks for you, and I'll earn a small referral bonus.

I'll be writing more about budgeting over the coming weeks. It's something that is quite important to me. Working as a freelancer has cost me the certainty of a regular paycheck that I had when I was working my 9-5. (However, the pros of working for myself far outweigh the cons!) As a result I have to monitor my money better, in other words I have to budget! When I heard the word budget in the past, it sounded like a cuss word to me! However now I see my budget as a plan and a roadmap for my finances.

Until Next Time...