YNAB: YOU NEED A BUDGET!

Hi Everyone!

I know I said I wasn’t going to write until the end of summer, but I just wanted to share this with you, as it has revolutionized my life! Seriously! And it’s about something really rather boring: Budgeting!

I was sick and tired of not knowing where our money was going every month; not knowing how much I really had for personal spending; or if there were areas we needed to cut back in, in order to get more of things we wanted. To make things even more complicated, my husband is essentially “self-employed” and his income fluctuates month to month, which always makes budgeting a little more difficult.

For months I have been using Excel and it’s been OK – but I knew there had to be something better out there to help track and categorize EVERYTHING – all on one page. In my job, I use Quickbooks on a daily basis and realized that my own personal finances needed to be more like this (It’s a sad thing when you are way more organized at work than you are in your household) ….so I went looking and found this amazing program called “YNAB: You Need A Budget”! It’s wonderful, and I am going to tell you why.

Before I go on, I should note that I didn’t spend a LOT of time researching which Budgeting Software was better than the other, BUT I have been using this software for a couple weeks now and have to say that it is very user friendly, easy to understand, and it’s liberating to know what is happening with your money.

Here’s the interesting thing: The budget doesn’t always make you want to smile. When I plugged in the numbers of what I want to be spending – especially with savings in mind for an upcoming trip in October – it can kind of be a little depressing! But what’s funny is that it’s not depressing at all because at least you feel in CONTROL of your money and are being very proactive about it. I can’t say enough good about it.

Now I am sure there are other good programs, but I strongly suggest (if you don’t already use such a thing) to GO TO THE WEBSITE AND CHECK IT OUT!! Trust me – it will revolutionize your life too!!  You can download a free month trial – and the whole thing only costs $60. Let me know what you think!

http://www.youneedabudget.com/

Good Luck!

Stacy
P.S. I just went online to see if there were reviews, and here is a link to reviews of personal budgeting software….YNAB shows up as #3! http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/