July Net Worth Update – Up 1.67%

The numbers are in for July, and our net worth increased by 1.67% ($417). It has been very slow going lately in regards to debt reduction. As long as our net worth isn’t decreasing, that’s a good thing.

I do hope that things kick up a little bit here and the rate of debt reduction increases. I think we will be able to pay a good chunk of debt this month, but I’m holding on that after last week’s fiasco. It was not a good feeling to see that we only had $21 in our checking account. Talk about a close call! Part of my debt reduction strategy is to run our checking account low so there is no temptation to overspend. But that was way too close.

I am going to double and triple check our finances to make sure I do not miss anything this month. Once I’m sure everything is covered, then it will be time to pay some more debt. If we can pay $500 extra this month I will be very happy. Come September, things should be picking up.

Posted by Tricia on August 12, 2008 at 12:20 AM in Net Worth | 10 Comments »
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neilo responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 12:37 am
You’re a Quicken gal, right? Surely Quicken has a “Forcase Cash Flow” function like Money, where you can see all the upcoming bills and the hit they have on accounts?

Also, Money has a nifty little notification area icom which alerts me to upcoming bills. I’m sure I’ve seen that the latest Quicken does that, too…
Tricia responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Yes, I use Quicken, but I have an older Mac version. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that the Windows version has

But – I forecast cash flow manually. I have all of my payments for the next few months already in my check register and I modify/move around as needed. The problem is with human error when forget to add a future payment in there.
Brack responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 8:16 am
I put $1000 in my checking account as my “emergency fund”, but then I adjust all my other numbers as if the $1000 isn’t there. Then, even if I end up floating a payment for a day or two, I don’t get hit with finance charges…
LJ responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
You might want to check out http://www.mint.com. I am planning a signing up for this as well. I have heard it is a wonderful tool. It even alerts you of upcoming bills and low account balances. Just a thought.
doctorS responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I just wrote a review on Mint.com . I have been using this site for about 4 months now and have no complaints whatsoever. Check my site out for the writeup and mess around on Mint.com to see what you think.

As for your Net worth, as long as it is going up then you are doing better than most people! Keep it up.
Sweetpea responded:
Posted: August 12th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I have used Quicken, Microsoft Money, Mint.com,and I have to say my very favorite is one that I just found—- YouNeedABudget.com

The best part is there are two different versions, the excel version is an application that runs through Windows, so you could put it on your thumb drive and take it with you anywhere. I have the pro version, but had I known that one was portable, I probably would have bought just the basic excel spreads.

YNAB is a cash budget, but its philosophy is that you should be using this month’s income to pay next month’s bills….Being from the Salaried folks, I can definitely see its benefits. But I imagine they’d be even more benficial with someone who doesn’t know exactly how much their next paycheck will be….either because of sales commissions or self-employed etc.

IT definitely doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of MS Money and Quicken. But it was written by an accountant out of his need to budget since he was a part time employee and full time student getting married.

It does have a 60 day free trial, but even if you love it, it’s only 20 bucks. Much more affordable than Quicken or MsMoney with the upgrade versions you are forced to buy every few years because they stop supporting the ancient versions.

By the way, YNAB does have an affiliate program. However, I am not a part of it at all. I have no website or link and make no money if anyone reads this post and immediately buys the program. I’m just a professional banker who knows the value of a working budget, but who also was a stay at home mom for 7 years and understands the frustation of the numbers on the budget vs. the numbers in the Bank. Of all the programs I have used (I’ve used MsMoney for more than 4 years, Quicken more than 4 and Mint for over 6 months)—-from my experience YNAB has the best impact on my balances and my bottom line. And you can use it in conjunction with, not in lieu of Quicken.
Emmi responded:
Posted: August 13th, 2008 at 2:09 am
>Part of my debt reduction strategy is to run our checking account low so there is no temptation to overspend.

That’s better than my college financial strategy, which was to never check the balance so I’d always fear I had too little money to buy anything.
credit counseling angie responded:
Posted: August 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I recently have had some credit problems. I liked my credit cards waaay too much. I think the best thing you can do to recover is to allow yourself enough time to straighten everything all out. Nothing happens overnight, especially fixing a credit score.
Abby responded:
Posted: August 15th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I miss Quicken. Ours doesn’t work anymore. So I told my mom it was on sale and my birthday was coming up (hint, hint). You know you’re getting old when you start asking for financial software!

But it is such a helper. We’ve been far less organized lately since it’s expired (it won’t interface with financial institutions anymore… but then we did get it free)

There are plenty of close calls — but be happy at least that you didn’t go over. You just had a good scare!
rj responded:
Posted: August 18th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Your net worth went up $415 but think of the future (which is not so far) when you can put more money towards that once you are paid off with your debt. Way to go !!