Budget Snob

Financial Freedom through Budgeting

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Today’s post is from Sharon Smith. Sharon works with the fine people at Oak View Law Group in California.

Financial crisis is not only created by a lack of money. Your attitude is at least somewhat responsible. Having the right attitude about your expenses can guide you towards financial freedom.

It’s human nature to desire more than what we deserve. This habit, however, can trap us in a web of debt. Extravagance without saving will never liberate you from financial consequences—most bad.

If you are a spendthrift and eat and sleep on credit, you’re only asking for trouble. In order to restore your finances, budgeting becomes a crucial first step.… Read the rest

Budget Beginnings

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Tender Hearted Daisy (what a great name) wrote a nice, little post about some things she’s learning about budgeting.

What I love about this post is that 1) it’s personalized, 2) she shares from her heart, and 3) she definitely doesn’t come off like a holy rolling guru.

To summarize, Liane admits that her and her husband were “lousy at money management” over the years. As a result of being out of the work force and not having medical insurance for several decades, Liane made a commitment to get on the right financial path.

With that, she shares some tips on what helped her and her family get back to financial health.… Read the rest

What Makes a Good Budget?

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Are there specific actions you can take to make sure your budget is solid? Is there even such a thing as a good budget? According to Deborah Fowles, former guide at the About.com financial planning section,

“In all the the budget bloopers and and blunders I’ve seen, the same few problems keep rearing their ugly heads.”

With that, Deborah provides the top ten most important features of a successful budget. A few of those features include:

1. Categories that fit your personal situation and your spending habits, not somebody else’s.

2. Enough categories to give you a meaningful picture of where your money goes and where you might be able to cut costs, but not so much detail that tracking is a chore that you’ll soon tire of.

… Read the rest

Pay for a Wedding – with Cans?

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Andrea and Peter wanted a nice, modest wedding for their 150 person guest list. Nothing grand. In fact, their $3,800 budget was light years below the $19,581 average wedding cost for U.S. couples. How did they pay for it? With cans of course:

“From the start, we knew we wanted a simple wedding, an event that was more a celebration of the friends and family that made us who we are and are a part of our lives. Basically, get an awesome space large enough to hold everyone, and have a party — with a small ceremony held somewhere in the middle of it all”, Andrea said.

… Read the rest