This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I also earn from qualifying purchases made with other brands and programs. See my privacy policy.
Besides eating healthy and exercise, one of the hardest things in life to stick with is a written budget. Money management is stressful, especially when you don’t feel like you have enough cash to even survive. Each day people are faced with monetary mountains. Do any of these monetary mountains ring a bell with you?
You walk up to the register with knots in your stomach, swipe your card, and hope that this grocery trip won’t do you in for the month.
You lay in bed fighting back tears and worry as your last reliable source of transportation broke down and you aren’t sure you can afford the repairs.
You and your spouse are on different wave lengths about money and spending. Argument after argument makes you feel further and further apart- even resentful.
Often times these obstacles are created because we are not on top of how much money we actually have. We aren’t tracking our spending or saving and so we live paycheck to paycheck and credit card bill to credit card bill.
The honest truth is that you are the only person in your life that can tackle these mountains. If you’re married, you’ll need to tackle them with your spouse since you both spend money.
Busting The Myths
Let’s start by getting over any preconceived ideas that you need a degree in finance or accounting or that you need to be good at math to have a budget. Technology is getting to the point where if you can post to Facebook, you can hold down a budget with ease without doing an single bit of math yourself. There are lots of great budget apps out there, but ease of use is key to sticking with it.
The Free App That Makes Budgeting Simple and Mobile
Recently while working out I was listening to one of Dave Ramsey’s podcasts. He started talking about his new FREE online site and app from Ramsey Solutions called the EVERYDOLLAR Budget. I couldn’t wait to get off the elliptical runner to go and try it out.
I desperately want to find tools that you can use to be a successful budgeter. Why? Because financial stress is the root to many problems in life. Take a second and imagine your current life, free from monetary stress. What areas would start to flourish and mend? When you get your money and spending under control peace starts showing up in many other parts of your life. I know this first hand.
I’ve been playing around with the EVERDOLLAR site and it was simple and straightforward. Just to be clear, I’m NOT making money by telling you about this. I’m just a huge Dave Ramsey fan. When he makes something like this, it’s gonna be good.
What This FREE Tool Can Do
- Help you define your income.
- It has most of the spending categories you use already set up.
- Allows you add your own categories.
- Allows you enter the amount you plan to spend for the month in each category.
- Allows you to plan for saving.
- Allows you to plan for paying down debt.
- Allows you enter transactions as you make them and assign those expenses to a category.
- Keeps a running total of how much money you have in your account and what left in each category.
- Gives you an explanation of all Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps to help you plan your way out of debt in 7 steps.
- Email support help.
- The website is mobile friendly so you should be able to view it most of your smart devices.
- You can download the app on your iPhone- Android coming soon.
A Tool Is Only As Good as You Use It
Have you even been in a situation where you decided to get fit so you went out and bought a gym membership. You went consistently for about a month. After that it was just a painful reminder printed on your bank statement every month. Just because you have the tools to get the job done, doesn’t mean you’ll follow through or be consistent.
Budgeting tools can’t change your life if you don’t use them correctly & consistently. Effective budgeting requires you to do the same thing- over and over. Just because you sign up, doesn’t mean you are suddenly going to kick your old money habits. So invest some time learning how to use this very intuitive and user friendly website.
Set a date on your calendar every pay-day to sit down, look over it and update it. If you are married schedule it and don’t let anything keep you from doing it.
Why You Need a Budget Tool
You need something like this because budgeting is not simply tracking what you spend. A budget is preemptive. You plan what you will spend before you spend it.
EVERYDOLLAR has two versions. A free one and a membership based advanced version. If you are new to budgeting- just stick with the basics until you learn to hold down a budget.
To change something in your life, you just have to decide to start. Start budgeting today and start getting your money under control. No matter what anyone has led you to believe, you are smart enough, you can be consistent and you can take back control of you money. I highly encourage you to go try it out and tell me what you think!
Have you tried out EVERYDOLLAR? If so, what do you think about it?
Kim Anderson
Kim Anderson is the organized chaos loving author behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. She helps other people who thrive in organized chaos to stress less, remember more and feel in control of their time, money, and home. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and more!
