My New Budget

Being single with a steady income, I got lazy the last couple years and didn't really Now that I am back in the States and my income varies every month, I decided I need to go back on a strict budget. I had used Microsoft Money 2005 & 2006, but never really liked it much. (Which is probably one of the reason I quit sticking to a budget.) I missed the QuikBudget program I had for my Palm. Unfortunately,they don't make a PocketPC or desktop version of it, so I had to hunt for a new program. I found a great piece of software called "You Need a Budget Pro" or YNAB for short. It is very easy and intuitive to use. For tech support there are great tutorials, online help and forums if you need to ask a specific question. (And the creator of the software answers a lot of the questions himself!) I did have a little trouble because I have a few weird things that happen in my budget and a couple calculation errors on my part when I was double checking to make sure everything balanced out correctly. But that was not the software's fault! It is built on the zero-based budgeting principles. I have used zero-based in the past, but didn't know it had a name!

Now I can save for future expenses in the various budget categories and keep tabs on all my income and expenses.

The greatest thing about finally having my budget done -
Now I know how much money I can spend on a car and can start looking after 9 months without one! Currently I'm one month ahead of my expenses, have money for a car and have started accumulating additional savings. It's such a freeing feeling to finally have it all worked out!