| There are plenty fancy ideas out there for | | | | off, the numbers won't add up and nothing really |
| personal budget planners. You can use them on | | | | makes sense. I remember when I was making a |
| your computer or on handheld devices. They | | | | ton of money in one of those upstart Internet |
| sound like awesome little gadgets except it gives | | | | companies; I didn't think I needed to worry about |
| you the idea that owning one will mean you'll | | | | budgeting. I was definitely living high off the hog, |
| somehow have tons of extra money. Excel has | | | | though, and I needed to find a way to get my |
| one of those programs that let's you graph | | | | finances in order. I made a few notations in my |
| everything out or plot your progress on pie | | | | personal budget planner and, since I was making |
| charts. While they seem fancy and look cool, you | | | | so much cash, it didn't take long to catch up and |
| can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as my | | | | be more financially secure. |
| grandmother used to say. In other words, if you | | | | Well, as you may imagine, the dot com industry |
| don't have the money to spend, a fancy budget | | | | didn't last forever, so I took another position as a |
| planner won't help you very much. | | | | systems administrator. I wasn't making as much |
| I don't think it's half as important if you have one | | | | money and it wasn't a good time for me. I felt |
| of these things than it is to actually use one. | | | | like I never had enough money. I thought maybe |
| Sometimes they're too complicated than they're | | | | I wasn't using my budget planner correctly and |
| really worth. I personally like the idea of a paper | | | | the bills started stacking up. I lost more than a |
| log book, a nice sharp pencil and maybe a | | | | few nights' sleep, worrying about the whole thing. |
| calculator. I like the idea of seeing the numbers all | | | | After a while, I realized that my personal budget |
| work out for myself rather than having a | | | | planner was not at the root of my money |
| computer do it all for me. The computerized | | | | problems at all. Rather, I simply wasn't making |
| budget planners are too abstract and it makes | | | | enough money to keep up with the lifestyle I |
| me nervous not to see the numbers right there. | | | | really wanted to live. |
| I have a great brown leather bound budget | | | | So, I took action and got a second job to make |
| planner. It's elegant and, for the most part, it's | | | | up the difference. It was a boring job but it paid |
| easy to use. But I've decided that's not my real | | | | pretty well. I quickly found that my finances were |
| problem when it comes to budgeting. The problem | | | | much better and I'm back to doing it the way I |
| is my taking the time to make use of it. If I slack | | | | once did. |