What does work for me

Hooray for auto-savings transfers.

The following system may seem absurd to some people, but it works for me.

I have accounts at ING Direct. Multiple accounts. I have them labeled for different purposes: taxes, gifts, insurance, house, car, medical, hobbies. Every one of these accounts has an auto-transfer set up either monthly or bi-monthly. It's counted with the expenses on my monthly budget sheet.

Where I've always gotten to trouble in the past is not planning ahead. So when anything not on my monthly budget sheet came up, I'd be screwed.

So I tried to put the money for all those different things in my savings account. But I would always screw it up - an overdraft from checking or me taking "just a few dollars" a few times. It was all a big pile and I was never sure how much was saved for any one thing.

Now when I log into my ING Direct account, I can see immediately how much I've saved for any one purpose. So it stays there. Because it's accounted for. Plus the auto-transfers mean I don't have to actually *do* anything.

Also, even though I love them, this isn't a plug for ING Direct. I use them because they let you create as many savings accounts as you want.

Revamping plans...

Well, I wasn't able to get one new card with a large enough limit to transfer both existing cards. So my next objective is to find multiple new cards. Of course, I can't go applying to a bunch of them at once, so I have to spread them out.

I have a few offers that have come in; I'll be investigating those. I'm also going to pursue a personal loan from my credit union.

My main priorities are reducing my monthly interest & improving my credit score; both of these would be helped (I think) by moving my credit card debt to a personal loan. The line of credit wouldn't necessarily be renewable, so when it's paid off, I can't keep using it - which is probably a good thing.

Hodge Podge

1) Wachovia has introduced Way 2 Save a service that automatically transfers $1 for every transaction you make to a special savings account. I signed up for it yesterday & it already has $6 in it. The only down side is that it creates a new savings account, rather than linking to your existing one - so I have to go in periodically and transfer the funds. (I don't have a goal for my Way 2 Save account, but I do for my regular savings account.)

2) I paid my property taxes yesterday. :)

3) I still have to pay my income taxes. :(

4) I'm requesting a credit limit increase on one of my cards so I can transfer and close another card.

5) I have to figure out how to rework my budget to allow more spending on food. I was a bit unrealistic in my figures.

6) We're coming to a close in tutoring season, so there's a few hundred dollars/month I won't see.

Geezeo in the lead

So far Geezeo (http://www.geezeo.com) is feeling the best of the account management sites. I like the interface, I like that it tracks all types of accounts (they're still adding for student loans and car payments) that you can set goals, set budgets, get alerts. I've had one or two bumps, so it's not a sealed deal yet - I could still end up switching. But so far there's a clear favorite.

Using the internets

I've been investigating some account aggregating sites:
www.mint.com
www.wesabe.com
www.yodlee.com
www.buxfer.com
www.geezeo.com
www.expensr.com

So far I'm leaning toward Geezeo, but I'm playing around in all of them.

Also, I found this site: www.billmonk.com which probably isn't that helpful to me right now, but I can see it's value. Since I live alone right now, it's not practical.

Vegas didn't do as m uch damage to my wallet as it could have, but it certainly didn't help. But I had a blast and I'm really glad I went.

money management

I'm investigating sites that aggregate your financial information to figure out which one I like better. Usually they're designed to pull information form all your accounts (bank, credit etc.) and give you one complete financial picture.



www.wesabe.com is the only one with a video so far.

up next:
www.mint.com
www.yodlee.com
www.buxfer.com
www.geezeo.com
www.billmonk.com
www.expensr.com

Good News, Bad News

I owe $800 in income taxes. Boo, hiss. The good news is that my property taxes were lower than I'd planned for, so that's a huge help in paying that bill. I wish I hadn't just dumped so much money on my credit cards though - I had plenty of cash for this a few weeks ago. So that's another lesson learned.

In other news, the most hideous credit card bill just came down to under $8,000 - still about $1,700 away from rehabilitation. Discover is about $150 away from what I think is my rehabilitation point. Cap One should be paid off in about 2 months. HSBC won't be 100% paid off by the end of summer, but close.

My monthly budget is looking pretty good for the moment, but ultimately I'd like to get my spending down another $200/month. The good news is that much of the spending is savings and debt payment.

I'm getting close to the point where I can envision a life without credit card debt. It'll be like I'm rich - I'll have up to $600 extra a month. Of course, most of that will get forwarded to the student loan and mortgage. But still. How cool is that?