High and low-tech ways to budget

So many people have tried every budgeting trick in the book but still can’t seem to figure out how to handle their money by themselves.

My General Manager Christa made it clear to me about eight or 10 years ago that she had trouble with money just vanishing out of her life. Then she hit on the idea of putting money into different accounts for different purposes.

Today she has three checking accounts and one savings account. She has each of her paychecks automatically split among these four accounts each month. Christa then uses Mint.com to track her finances online.

Depending on your bank, you may not have the ability to sync your accounts with Mint, however there are plenty of free budgeting tools and apps out there for you to try.

Of course, a low-tech way to get a handle on your finances would be the envelope method.

You simply take envelopes and write “groceries” on one, “utilities” on another, “walking around money” on a third — there should be a separate envelope for each part of your life that requires money.

Debit cards and credit cards can be the Bermuda Triangle of your wallet because it’s so easy to lose track of your finances when you use them. A study done by Dun & Bradstreet found that people spend 12 percent to 18 percent more at fast-food restaurants when they use plastic instead of cash.

When you swipe a card, you don’t feel the money leaving your hands like you do when you hand over cash.

That’s why I recommend that on payday, you take out the dollar amount you need until next pay period and split it up among your envelopes. When one envelope empties, you either take money from another envelope or you do without until next payday.