Today I have something exciting to share with you - it's something I've been hoping to give my readers for a long time - ....an updated, vibrantly colored budgeting spreadsheet! I don't know why I'm so excited about this. Maybe it's because the last budget template I published was as plain as can be. I see all these super colorful ones on Pinterest all the time. Now I have my very own! :)   Free Monthly Budget Template Since this is my second monthly budget offering, I thought it would be a good idea to offer you the chance to download a really plain one if you'd Keep Reading

Recently I had some requests for an extended version of my 26-week savings plan. I decided to make this a 52-week long savings plan - it's so simple it's almost ridiculous! All you do is start with $1 in Week One. Then every week after that you add $1 to the amount you're saving for the week.  That's it! If you do this, you'll have a cool $1,378 extra in one year's time! Imagine if you did double this?!   $1,378 is plenty of money to buy all the Christmas gifts on our list when we're sticking to our Christmas budget, so that's what I'll likely use ours for. It's Keep Reading

  This one-month money challenge will allow you to boost your savings! Today I have something super fun to share. It's a $265+ ONE MONTH SAVINGS CHALLENGE I put together to help anyone get a jump start on savings. It's a unique combination of saving money and making money that, if done bit by bit over the course of a month's time, will net you at least $265 in extra money! I am a strong believer that some people are just not cut out for strict budgeting. I personally fall into that category! I don't like feeling deprived ALL THE TIME. But I can do just about anything if it's a Keep Reading

It's been a while since I originally posted my 26-week savings plan, so I figured it was time for an update! If you're anything like me, visualizing your goals plays a huge part in the success of a goal. When I set out to grow my blog to $7,500 per month (October 2015 earnings....income report to be posted soon!), I started with my end goal in mind. I looked at what my then-monthly income was and calculated how long it would take me to meet my goal if I simply duplicated my efforts up to that point. I visualized all of this on a whiteboard, then eventually moved it into an Excel Keep Reading

  If you're anything like me, you have a habit of letting Christmas sneak up on you. I always know it's coming, and I always start worrying about it in October but for some reason I can never seem to get my act together and save for Christmas gifts ahead of time. This year WILL be different. I created this 26 week savings plan based on some other challenges I've seen out there, just in time to start it in time to save $1,000 by December (by starting in June). Week by week, if you save ever increasing amounts (by $1 increments) starting with $26, you will amass $1001 in Keep Reading

One of the first steps toward getting a handle on personal finances is to develop a budget. Over the years, I’ve tracked household expenses in everything from simple Excel budget templates that print on one sheet to elaborate income and expense worksheets with many tabs. One of the best monthly budget templates I've ever seen can be downloaded for free from Vertex42.com. Free Sample Monthly Budget Template This worksheet can be used with Open Office, Google Docs, or Microsoft Excel versions 2002 (XP) or later. This simple budgeting template is visually appealing and easy to Keep Reading

When I first decided to start budgeting before the birth of our first child, I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know how much money we spent, and I am ashamed to say that I also did not know exactly how much money we had at our disposal each month after taxes and retirement contributions. Needless to say, I was paralyzed by the thought of analyzing everything! What I did know was that a proper budget worksheet could help our situation.   Determining Monthly Expense Categories & Creating a Basic Household Expenses Worksheet Because I was used to using Microsoft Excel Keep Reading