Monday, November 3, 2008

How do you do it?

Yesterday Andy left us with a challenge, "record all of you spending for the next six weeks."  Why?  Because it's important for us to know where our money is going! Finances should never be an area where we look at things and say, "well, it seems to me...".

So, do you already do this?  If so, how?  Quicken or some other software?  Notebook paper?  If just starting this week, how are you planing on doing it?

Comment below!

8 comments:

nick and dana said...

Only a few hours after the message my wife, Dana, created this crazy excel spreadsheet thing. I don't understand the whole thing but I do know that we are keeping track of every penny we are spending for the entire series. I challenge you to do the same.

Are you In?

amy said...

We use Larry Burkett's Crown Financial Ministry Money Map program. We've used this program since 1991, the year we were married. Jeff's parents gave it to us as a gift. We couldn't figure out why the end of the month would come and we didn't have any money left. So, we started out tracking EVERY PENNY, even a pack of gum, on notebook paper. That was frightening! Then, it was amazing to see how giving first and setting other priorities led us to a point where we could be ahead! We continue to use it and track our spending, but we were challenged on Sunday to revisit a few areas of that budget.

We highly recommend tracking your spending and budgeting to people, especially those just starting out (single or married). God really does provide when you put Him first!

Unknown said...

I use a double-check system of a Word table with monthly expenses and notebook paper with expenses by pay periods. Might sound messed up, but it works for me.

Unknown said...

I have a spreadsheet that lists all the bills that are due, when they are due, when I paid them, how I paid them as well as how much I paid. This only lists bills and does not include every penny of spending. Also, Jason I and I use MS Money to keep track of everything that comes out of our bank account...however, not everything is categorized correctly either.

To manage this better (because of this series) I have folder that Jason and I need to keep ALL receipts of everything that we spent starting Nov. 1st...I would like us to do this for a few months to see where our money truly is going...

One last thing...last week I set up an e-give account so that GOD will be paid first....We will see how all this turns out in the next couple of weeks/months...

GOD Bless!

Unknown said...

Well, it has been a week since we "started" keeping all of our receipts and I do not believe we have saved them all...this is much harder than I thought. I think I need to keep an envelope in my car, my purse as well as right next to the computer...how crazy!

Jame said...

Congrats Tammy Brinker! We put all the names that commented on the two LO$T post this week into a hat and pulled your name out!

You win an audio CD of your choosing from this series!
When you decide what message you'd lke a copy of just stop by the resource center after service. They'll be expecting you.
jame

Joe Oliver said...

My Wife and I have been using Crown Financial Ministries "Mvelopes" system for about 2 years now. It is great for Gen X's & millennials because most of what we do is electronic. If you buy a soda at the store with your debit card, it automatically gets sent to your Mvelopes account. You then put the transaction in the appropriate budget category.

It also works with checks, credit cards, and you can add cash purchases also.

It is great, you can track what you have spend per category each month. You can find your net worth, pay your bills online, etc.

We tried an excel document, and some other methods, but it was to tedious to sit down and add the purchases. This has been perfect for us because it is all automatic.

It does cost money to do, but it is well worth it!

I would recommend to anyone.

Check it out for yourself, its free for the first month.

http://www.crown.org/

AmyW said...

A money crisis actially brought Rich and me back to to God about seven years ago, and God still works on me constantly through my stewardship of money (or lack of it!).

We discovered Dave Ramsey, went through his "Financial Peace University" program, and then led it. It's a "baby step" system that really works. We've gotten lax about it in the last two years, though, especially the monthly budgeting part and keeping track of expenditures.

But the "Lo$t" series is really working on our hearts to get our financial act together again.

I like Joe's suggestion of using "Mvelope", since the hard part about keeping track of what you spend is that so much of it is electronic these days. I'm going to check that out. Thanks, Joe!