Life on Planet Caddick

I've been following Jill over at Hagler Happenings for a while now. Recently she's been posting about getting her financial house in order. It must be in the air because not only are we trying to gain back some control, but I have a dear friend who is doing the same thing. I think we are all going about it a little differently, well, ok I think Jill and Laurie are going about the same way - I'm the different one, natch! They are using the Dave Ramsey method but I chose You Need a Budget (YNAB). I'm not sure what drew me to this program but something about it clicked with me, and I guess that's the most important thing when you are trying to keep your money under control! Do what works for you. The program isn't free ($60 for use on all the computers in your house), but they do have a 34 day free trial, which I'm using right now. I did fork out the $4.99 for the iPhone app though. I know you're thinking "Why spend money on something you could m...

In January, for the first time in our married life, we started following a budget. Something we should have done years ago. I'm not saying it's been easy but we seem to be doing ok. Erik is having a little trouble with the whole 'allowance' thing - but he'll get the hang of it sooner or later! So, this week I started packing Erik a lunch. With some simple math skills I figured it's a savings of about $30 a week. Over $100 a month - are you kidding me? He gets less than that for his allowance so this is a good thing. Of course, I haven't given him his allowance yet - I need to do that! I think my point here is that it's not so bad living on a budget. I guess actually it's less of a budget and more of a "within our means" kind of thing. I love seeing the extra money at the end of the month to put on a bill. I love knowing that we will be able to pay cash for Christmas, Birthdays, and vacations. Erik needed a weed eater and we had...