Budget Spreadsheet

Looking for a Budget Spreadsheet?

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:09:07 +0000

Firstly, you can download the budget spreadsheet here:
http://www.homebudgetbuddy.com/g/1009/budget-planner.html

I’ve found budgeting using this family budget worksheet was a great first step in organising my finances and I’m sure you will too.

I’ll be writing more blog posts this week daily about

- HOW TO eliminate any bad money habits
- HOW TO take control of your money
- HOW TO make your money work for you and not vice-versa
- HOW TO eliminate unnecessary late fees from your expenses
- HOW TO recognize smart investment opportunities
- HOW TO set and achieve your financial goals
- HOW TO budget for financial security instead of financial
emergencies

I’m really looking forward to sending you this information, and don’t forget to get this great household budget plan. Here’s that link again:
http://www.homebudgetbuddy.com/g/1009/budget-planner.html

Until then
… to your bright and happy future.

Diane Hamilton

P.S…if you really want to get a head start on your budget and make
sure that you’re in control, check out our limited $1 trial offer on
our guaranteed budgeting software, the Home Budget Buddy.

The 20 Most Common Reasons to use a Budget Spreadsheet

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:45:49 +0000

The best way to solve a problem is to understand what got you into trouble in the first place.

It always surprises me when I talk to people about their money problems and they can’t really tell me how they ended up the way they did.

I’ve never met anyone who deliberately placed him or herself in financial difficulty.

What this makes me think is, ‘ If nobody wants to have money difficulties but most people do have them, then surely there must be something missing in what we are taught at school or in our up-bringing. It can’t possibly be that we’re all stupid!’

If you know what causes a problem then you have a much better chance of getting out of trouble.

For example…
I imagine that a scientist who knows why cancer begins to form in someone’s body has got a much better chance of finding out how to stop it from occurring than a scientist who does not. The same is true for what I like to call “money cancer”.

Here are the ‘20 Most Common Reasons’ why people have money problems.

Accepting financial advice from a “friend”
Acting on an impulse without getting all of the facts
Bad habits – e.g. drug, cigarette and alcohol abuse
Borrowing for things that lose value
Confusing “short term pleasure” with “long term satisfaction”
Consistently spending all or more than you earn
“Everyone else has got one” mentality
Failure to plan beyond today
Failure to realise the best things in life are free
False justification – e.g. buying a new car to save fuel when it might take 10 yrs to recover the cost
“I deserve it mentality” – self centred living
Image (“Cool” and “Fool” rhyme for a reason)
Lack of perseverance
Making decisions based on emotions
“Must have it now” mentality – can’t wait till it’s affordable
Refinancing multiple credit card debts and then still using the cards!
Using income to buy “toys” rather than investments
Victim of clever marketing campaigns
Victim of “easy finance” arrangements
“You only live once” mentality

Basically 2 categories
If you think about the 20 reasons, you can see they fall into only two categories.

Lack of Information
Lack of Self Discipline

Interestingly, if you were to ask a number of people what causes their money problems it’s likely they would say it was a lack of income, i.e. their boss doesn’t pay them enough money for the work they do!

Without a doubt, maximising your earnings is an important part of reducing money troubles, but unfortunately it is easier to spend money than it is to earn it so you also need to focus on how to make the most of what you do earn .

Think about this. Surely there are people who earn less than you do! If you are struggling with money, how are they surviving? If you’re doing it tough, they must be going bankrupt! But many of these people are doing quite well! It’s also a sure thing that there are also people out there who earn more than you do, who are doing worse than you!

We’ve already identified lack of self-discipline as a factor causing money trouble. That is spending money when you know you shouldn’t but doing it anyway! Of course this raises the question, “How do you know when you should or shouldn’t spend money”? Do you rely on feelings? e.g. I feel like I’ve spent enough money for one day!

Or, do you stop spending when the savings account is empty, or perhaps when the credit card is full? It probably seems like a silly question to ask at first glance. Isn’t it obvious? Of course people know when they can or can’t spend money.

I’ll leave you to think that one over. How do you know for sure when you can afford that little bargain you found at the supermarket? How do you know for sure you should pass it by?

Home Budget Buddy is all about this very question, and the answers it gives make so much sense, you’ll find it gives you new confidence in managing your money. Not only that, you’ll find you can minimise the burden bills place on your income when you use the Home Budget Buddy software system.

Until then
… to your bright and happy future.

Diane Hamilton
HomeBudgetBuddy

P.S. Feel free to pass onto your friends

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Be a budget planner and use this budget spreadsheet

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:34:21 +0000

It seems that no matter where you go, debt always emerges as a crucial financial topic, and everyone wants to find ways to get rid of debt!

If you haven’t downloaded my budget spreadsheet yet, then you should do that now:

http://www.homebudgetbuddy.com/g/1009/budget-planner.html

So… Today’s message…

Get a better deal on your credit card so you pay less interest and get out of debt faster .

Here is a strategy that works like magic.

Get on the phone to your bank and instead of saying:
“I’m thinking about closing my credit card”

Say:
“I’m thinking about transferring my credit card balance to another bank. I thought I’d give you a chance to match it or improve before I ring around”.

Typically the bank’s first reaction is:
“no, no, not at all. We can’t do that. You have an existing contract with us.

And the magic words….
Say very politely “that’s okay, I’ve heard this other bank can do a better deal anyway”.

“Just wait, I’ll speak to my supervisor”. And the deal gets done!

I have done this myself. The best deal for me was to get a credit card interest rate reduced by 52.4%. That’s the rate reduced to half what I’d been paying. How fantastic is that?

This is not a task for the feint hearted or time poor! I recommend you have a cup of tea or coffee and something else to do while you wait (me, I’m doing bookwork while I’m on hold).

After being transferred back and forth and using the broken record technique (saying the same thing over and over until they get it).

The bottom line – persist.

So…if you are suffering from credit card stress, here is something you can do about it:

How to Reduce Your Credit Card’s Annual Interest Rate…

The following strategy will certainly save you money by cutting the interest rate charged on your credit card. It is based on the fact that banks want your business and know they have to compete for it . Not only that, it is bad for their sales figures if quotas are not met and bank staff are under great pressure to achieve sales targets all the time.

Even though you may feel you have been taken prisoner by the Credit Trap you will be surprised to know that you actually do have some bargaining power. I recommend you use it to get a better deal.

Here is what you should do:

Call your card provider and say, “I am thinking of closing my credit card account” (this is not a lie – I am sure you think of this quite frequently!). Ask, “What do I have to do to do that?”

From this point on you will have to be creative, but realise the staff member on the other end of the line wants to keep your business . Let’s face it you are paying them lots of money so they do want to keep you as a customer.

You will be warned that if you close your card you might be sorry. You will be reminded that you might NEED it one day and could regret closing it down. You will be put on hold and given the run around, but if you stay patient and keep the dialogue going by constantly saying you want to close your credit card, while sounding mildly unsure of that position, YOU are in the driver’s seat.

So long as the person you are speaking to feels they have a chance of swinging you around with a good offer you should be able to achieve a much better deal than you are getting now .

To give the person you are dealing with a sense that it would be worth their while to make you a better offer you might find it helpful to use lines like this:

“I know it will be annoying to have to contact the people I make regular automatic payments to using this credit card but I just don’t feel like I want to use credit any more. The world is in economic crisis and I just feel like it would be better if I pay the card off”.

“I heard I could get a better deal at another bank. A friend of mine is only paying X%” (Of course, mention that you didn’t ask them which bank it is – unless you actually did do some research first).

“I just thought I would give you the chance to make me a better offer, but if there is nothing better available then I guess all I need to know is how I go about completing the paper work.

Oh, by the way, what happens when I pay it out? Will there be two dollars interest to pay the next month and then one dollar the month after that?

I heard of someone who tried for months to close her account because there was always an outstanding few cents interest in the months after it was paid off. I heard he/she was ready to call a journalist and current affairs TV show because of how ridiculous it was getting.”

It is a good idea to keep the staff member thinking it would be in their best interest to improve the offer they are making in order to keep you interested in keeping the account. The longer you can do this the better.

This simple strategy can save you thousands of dollars . You are crazy if you don’t try it.

If you do use this strategy please reply and let me know what outcome you achieve.

To finish off today, here’s what happened to a Home Budget Buddy customer…

“We struggled for years to kill our credit card debt, and I mean really struggled – we were regularly hit with over-limit or overdrawn fees of $30 – $45 by my bank.

Eventually, through a move and change of job we were in a position to pay out the $4,500 balance, which we did with great pride. Then I phoned to close the account…

To cut a long story short, the bank did everything possible to discourage me: I was offered 1 year with no annual fee, then 2 years fee free and when that didn’t work, the interest rate that I had battled with for years of 16.9% was dropped to under 9% ; and it was pushed that I should keep the card just for emergencies.

I was livid. Even though the offers were great I was incensed that when we needed the help the most there was none (in fact the penalty fees made it much worse – did they really think for a minute that we were late or over-limit willingly!). I stood my ground and got the account closed but it wasn’t easy and the temptation could easily have been too much – luckily for me I was furious by then!”

So…armed with the above information I would wish you good luck but am fairly confident you won’t need any!

Until then
… to your bright and happy future.

————————-

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