SavvySugar

What Is the Best Money Management Tool in 2008?

SavvySugar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:30:50 -0800

Financial organization has been a top priority for many of us this year, and the money management tools that make this easier deserve a place in the Best of 2008. These tools do awesome things like showing all of our accounts in one place and depicting our spending habits in pretty pie charts that let us see where we should cut back. In short, budgeting has never been so simple. Which of these tools do you favor over the rest?

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News Flash: Money Is on Everybody's Mind

SavvySugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:00:21 -0700

Forbes released its 27th list of the Forbes 400 ranking the 400 richest Americans - you'll need at least $1.3 billion to join this club. Of course, Bill Gates made the list. - Forbes
Networking in a time of need: University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business called its alumni that were Lehman employees just one day after the bank filed for bankruptcy. - The Wall Street Journal
The federal government is considering forming a new agency to handle the mortgage-related assets that have crippled Wall Street. - The New York Times

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Money Tip: Track Your Spending Online

SavvySugar — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:00:19 -0700

Tracking your spending is the best way to learn your money leaks and begin the path of budgeting, which will hopefully make you feel more in control of your money. Forget entering every expense in your spiral notebook; all you need to get started is your computer.

Wesabe is a free website that makes it easy to track your finances. It lets you see all of your bank, credit, and savings accounts in one place and has budgeting tools for organizing your spending. Seeing the big picture of your money in one place makes the budgeting process a no-brainer, and having one place to check in takes much less time than figuring out where you stand by looking at each account separately.

Aside from its money-management capabilities, Wesabe is unique in that it has an active community where members hash out financial issues. The site has groups, similar to the ones on TeamSugar, but they are geared toward specific money questions like debt dilemmas and how to be a smarter spender.

Have you ever used an online money management site like Wesabe?

Three Tips for Organizing Your Receipts and Expenses Online

SavvySugar — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:46:20 -0700

As we spend money we inevitably collect a messy paper trail of bills, transactions and receipts.

Consequently, keeping your receipts orderly and wallet clean is a never ending challenge.

If you're looking to organize your finances you should check out some of the online services that help keep track of your spending and receipts. The options vary per service but a combination of any program with your old school "receipt box" (or the bottom of your purse) can help you better manage your spending and keep track of where your money is going every month. For the simplest ways to get started, read more.

Check Out Your Bank's Options: Most of the banks that offer robust online banking programs feature a system for tracking all your accounts and spending. They usually record and break down every ATM transaction and check you send out and help you analyze how much you are spending and saving monthly. The best programs help you itemize your expenses into separate categories like food, clothing, bills, living etc.
Track Your Online and Offline Purchases: Shoeboxed is a free online service that can automatically track and organize your online and offline purchases. When you make online purchases, you give the company your "@shoeboxed.com" e-mail address and stores will send receipts and e-mails directly to your Shoeboxed account.
Try Sites Designed to Track Spending: Sites like Mint, Wesabe and Spending Profile offer services to track your spending and watch your budget. The programs are all varied and detailed so you can customize them to manage your money in a way that makes sense for you. Due to their popularity, these sites are constantly offering updated versions of themselves, but some people are hesitant about keeping all of their financial information in one online location.

Six Steps to Worrying Less About Your Money: Part V

SavvySugar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:26:17 -0800

While the act of creating a budget may not be the first thing you want to do with the little spare time you have, the effects of budgeting - like being able to take that long awaited vacation - are more than worth the little effort it actually takes to organize your spending. Real Simple lists needing a budget fifth in the March issue's feature. To see the magazine's simple and useful tips for building a budget just read more

Grab a blank notebook: Write down every penny you spend for a whole month so you know where your money is actually going.
Take stock: At the month's end, categorize your spending in to basic categories (food, clothing, shelter, savings, etc) and divvy up your expenses.
Play with the numbers: If there's a concert you want to go to next month, rearrange the numbers so that maybe you spend less on eating out to buy the tickets. Your list of monthly expenses should serve as a guideline for all future spending.
Sign up for an online money-tracking program, like wesabe or mint: These programs can be linked to your credit card and bank accounts and will categorize your expenses for you. All you have to do is enter any purchases you made with cash.

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