{"id":1418,"date":"2017-10-20T03:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T08:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kerryaclark.com\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2018-09-05T18:24:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T23:24:37","slug":"art-of-budgeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/art-of-budgeting\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Budgeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s In A Budget? \u00a0Part 4<\/span><\/h2>\n

I hate to admit this, but I found out recently that I\u2019m wired a little differently. I failed to realize that for most, budgeting isn\u2019t easy. \u00a0If it were, everyone would do, few would have financial issues, and companies wouldn\u2019t have errors in their financial reporting. \u00a0You see budgeting is a discipline. \u00a0I know that\u2019s a word we love to hate, but I need you to hate to love this discipline. \u00a0As Pamela and I<\/a> <\/span>coach others through their financial woes, we\u2019ve found that while it may not be easy it\u2019s certainly necessary if you want the best for your life, your home, your business.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In our previous post<\/a><\/span>, we introduced two of our main budgeting tools. \u00a0These tools are in our toolbox. \u00a0Think of an actual toolbox, there are many things in it. \u00a0In an actual toolbox, you have a wrench, screwdrivers, a hammer and other essential tools. \u00a0However, there are some tools you use more than others.\u00a0 That\u2019s what these two budgeting tools are to us. \u00a0They\u2019re the tools we use more often than the rest and each tool has it place.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Mint – The Art of Budgeting<\/b>
\n<\/span>Mint<\/a> <\/span>is an application (app) that allows you to monitor your accounts all in one place. \u00a0It lets you see what\u2019s happening in your bank accounts, with your credit cards, loans, investments and even your mortgage. \u00a0It\u2019s an all in one place to see the overall picture of your finances. \u00a0The beauty of the app is that it doesn\u2019t require a lot of work from you like most budgeting apps do. \u00a0You don\u2019t have to enter the transactions and there\u2019s not much you have to do to classify transactions. \u00a0It does that very nicely. \u00a0\"\"<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>I call Mint<\/a>,\u00a0 The Art of Budgeting.\u00a0 Mint<\/a> doesn\u2019t budget for you, it\u2019s just a tool like any other tool. You have to use it. \u00a0Any budgeting application will require your involvement and it must be on a regular basis. \u00a0I understand why that doesn\u2019t sound exciting. \u00a0No one wants to see the bounced checks and shortfall in the account or the bills that hit after you just got paid. \u00a0It can be pretty depressing. \u00a0But what if none of those depressing situations happened to you? \u00a0You\u2019d probably enjoy seeing your loans decrease, the value of your home increase, and the money you have left over surprise you. \u00a0That\u2019s what we mean by the Art of Budgeting. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Mint<\/a> takes your natural spending habits and categories them for you. \u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t have any generic unmeaningful categories. \u00a0I need to move on… Pamela and I<\/a> use Mint<\/a> to view our real-time financials for our home, our business. \u00a0It also allows us to see trends over periods of time. \u00a0My favorite is to review the past year-over-the-year-before. \u00a0Mint\u2019s perfect for this. \u00a0More on that process at a later date. \u00a0You need a tool that\u2019s your go-to so that you can create art, something beautiful, with your finances.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>

The Family Plan Binder<\/a>\"\"<\/a> is available now!

<\/p>\nOur team has worked very hard putting it together. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward in making your life your business. \nFind out more about the Family plan here.<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Excel – The Tool for Giving Every Dollar a Name<\/b>
\n<\/span>Microsoft did something when it created Excel<\/a> decades ago and I\u2019ve been using it ever since. \u00a0That would make me an Excel<\/a>-ninja. \u00a0\u00a0We use Excel<\/a> for many reasons, but for this post, we use it to map out our spending. \u00a0You\u2019ve heard me say this before in earlier posts, you need a map to get you from where you are to where you want to go. \u00a0Having a flight plan is important not just to get you to the destination, but to get you there as quickly as possible. \u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In an Excel<\/a> spreadsheet, we map out every dollar we get in our hands. \u00a0It has to go somewhere so that it doesn\u2019t go anywhere. \u00a0For those skeptics who think it will not work, it won\u2019t. \u00a0But for those who are interested in going beyond their present state, it will. \u00a0You need a plan to account for everything you presently do and what you desire to do. \u00a0A few summers back, we got hit with our homeowners association fees. \u00a0It comes every year at the same time, but for some reason we weren’t prepared to pay it. \u00a0That $250 hurts when it\u2019s not planned for. \u00a0So we decided to add that as a line item to our budget. \u00a0It\u2019s easier to put aside $20.84 a month than it is to come up with $250 all at once. \u00a0Give every dollar a name. \u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Using Excel<\/a>, we get to do two important tasks:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Take action on every dollar we make.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. List categories that impact our everyday.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We use these tools (Mint<\/a> and Excel<\/a>) to know what\u2019s going on and improve the financial position of our home, our lives, our business.<\/span>
    \n<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Today is Friday!<\/span>
    \n<\/span>Your life is your business and no one else\u2019s. \u00a0It\u2019s up to you to make the best of it. \u00a0What tool are you using to monitor and evaluate your family\u2019s finances? \u00a0What tool do you use to keep track of what\u2019s coming at you? \u00a0I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts.\u00a0 Leave a comment below or\u00a0    click here<\/a>\u00a0to email me.<\/strong><\/span>
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What\u2019s In A Budget? \u00a0Part 4 I hate to admit this, but I found out recently that I\u2019m wired a little differently. I failed to realize that for most, budgeting isn\u2019t easy. \u00a0If it were, everyone would do, few would have financial issues, and companies wouldn\u2019t have errors in their financial reporting. \u00a0You see budgeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,51,12,48],"tags":[63],"class_list":{"0":"post-1418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-accounting","8":"category-mint","9":"category-the-family-plan","10":"category-whats-in-a-budget","11":"tag-mint","12":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/20171020-TIF-Blog1-What%E2%80%99s-In-A-Budget-Part-4.png?fit=760%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4jb7V-mS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1423,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kerryaclark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}