Upcoming Road Trip…

Today is my daughter’s first official day of Spring Break. It’s nice to have some extra time with her. We’re about to head about for a road trip, but before we make that jaunt,w e’ll pop by and visit with an older friend and after that? Who knows where Naomi (my Toyota Prius) will take us. My daughter loves it best when we have no plan and just go wherever…

YNAB Update

I’m still enjoying using YNAB (You Need a Budget) and will definitely be purchasing it once my two month trial is over. I’ve always been a person that has had a budget but I do like that YNAB is just as detailed with their budgeting software as I am. That’s why I haven’t used them before. I’m not exaggerating when I say that all the budgeting software programs that I checked didn’t meet my standards, but YNAB does. I like the fact that I’m manually entering the transactions. It really doesn’t take a lot of time, just a few seconds to log my purchases that I make. Since I’m already frugal, I can’t see it saving me a lot of money, but I do like that I have a digital view of my long term savings goals. Think budgeting is only for people that are bad with money? Think again. I’m not. It’s something I’ve always done and I had excellent examples, my parents. Candid conversations about finances were common in our family it wasn’t until later that I learned this was something not too many people did.

As I said, I’m a planner and to give you a look at what having a budget can do, read The Millionaire Next Door, if you haven’t already. I read that in my early thirties. It just confirmed what I already knew, a lot can be accomplished (regardless of the income you make) if you only learn to live below your means. Many of the case studies were done with people that weren’t making a lot of money, but what they all had in common was they did have a budget, lived below their means and they saved. Part of planning for the future, in some cases, it can mean attempting to take on another job or additional education, now granted, not everyone can afford paying for their own education without some type of assistance, but that’s where the research comes in seeing what’s available (plenty of programs/grants) that are able to assist and… time.