Coupon clipping Service
I would love to know if anyone is using coupon clipping services, other than me of course. I tried one last week and was pleasantly suprised. It is Manufacturers Coupons and the coupons were up-to-date, inexpensive and arrived quickly. There is a $2.00 minimum that I didn’t notice at first, but she didn’t make me stick to it because it was my first order. She actually answered my email! I am impressed the first time through. I got 3 $2.00 coupons for 84 cents (including postage). Not bad. It was cheaper than buying the Sunday paper, in which I would have only gotten one of those coupons.
Has anyone else used this or another service?
Filed under Money | Tags: coupon clipping service, coupons, manufacturer's coupons | Comment (0)A Different Kind of Checkbook Register
I have thrown away my old checkbook register and now use a system of tracking deposits into certain categories to cover all my bills. Take a look at the ehow article I wrote that shows how to do it.
How to Budget your Bill Payments Right in Your Checkbook
http://www.ehow.com/how_5614090_budget-bill-payments-right-checkbook.html
It’s the equivalent of putting money into separate envelopes to save up for everything you need, just like in the old (really old) days when everything was done with cash. You split up your deposit into categories on a spreadsheet and then pay bills the same way.
Check it out and get a grip on your bills!
Make a Budget Spreadsheet
Excel is really the only budget spreadsheet tool you need. Make a chart that lists all of your monthly auto-withdraws along the dates they are withdrawn by the bank. Below that, list all of the payments that you make online, again along with the due dates. Then list the payments you make by check, along with the due dates. This can be extended out with a column for each month so you can see the entire year. Leave enough space for changes and print it out. I keep it with my bill-paying checkbook. Then when I get paid, I write in all the things due that week that are automatically withdrawn and pay the others. I mark them off on the list. I never pay a late fee.
This system works well for planning out the whole year also. You can really see what you have, what you owe, what will be paid off, etc. Planning is key, as always. You can do a budget forecast, increasing what you plan to pay on a credit card, for instance, as you pay off another thing.
Take the time to make a budget spreadsheet, and your budgeting chores will be simpler every month.