Top 3 Free Budgeting Tools For You

You want to be serious about making your financial house in order but don't know where to start. Well, here's a starting point for you. Find out what's happening to your finances, Take an inventory of where every cents go by listing all expenses you do daily for a month. Categorize the expenses by type e.g. Food, Gas, Utilities, etc. Tally.

The result will give you an idea how to set your budget for each category. Budget is very important. It gives you a parameter of how and when you can spend your money. It helps you to be disciplined in the use of your hard-earned money.



To help you make your budget, I have taken the liberty to look for available and free budget software in the market.

You can evaluate each one and then try to use what you feel matches your feel and preference. The good thing about it is you'll begin to see and feel what each budget designer wants you to do. It also gives you the opportunity to understand why we need to have a budget.

So here are my top 3 easy-to-use budget software recommendations:

1. Mint - quite modern. If you're a techy and uses iPad, iPhone or equivalent, Mint is the right one for you. Mint pulls all your financial accounts into one place. Set a budget, track your goals and do more with your money.

2. AceMoney Lite - Tracks your money spending habits and see where your money goes. Create and manage home budget. Easy to use.

3. dsBudget - This one is available on different platform (windows, linux, mac..). Also helps you track your spending habits and helps you understand where you spend your money. It is easy to customize according to your desire and needs.

Well, I limited my choice for you to these 3 easy-to-use budget system because if you can easily set-up one of these, the chances for you to continue is higher. Chances are you'll end up with a good habit of working within the budget.

My coach and mentor, Al Hollingsworth taught us that for a habit to be formed, you have to do it repetitiously. If you do budgeting repetitiously, budgeting becomes easy. When budgeting becomes easy, budgeting becomes a pleasure. When budgeting becomes a pleasure, budgeting is done often. When budgeting is done often, budgeting becomes a HABIT!

Your turn. You can do it.

To your debt-free life,
Jimmy

photo credit:
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/slideshows/12-money-mistakes-almost-everyone-makes
http://www.fiscalgeek.com/2009/06/a-zero-based-budget-system-part-1/