Budgeting Resources on the Reduce-Debt-Reduce-Stress Site

Budgeting Resources

Budgets are back in fashion! After so many years of focusing on bringing in more money, people are looking at ways to stretch the money they have. In Chapter One of Reduce Debt, Reduce Stress, we describe why your Spending X-Ray is so important to your debt busting campaign. We know it’s not fun, but it is the "healthy" thing to do when it comes to your finances!

And the research bears this out. Researchers have found that monitoring a behavior is essential to modifying that behavior. So writing down what you plan to spend, as well as what you actually spend, is going to help you make better decisions.

Gerri’s Story
I’ve been learning the value of a spending plan first hand. Although I keep a basic budget and do write down everything I spend for a month from time to time, I’m not as detailed as I could be. Recently, I started training with Karen McCall from the Financial Recovery Institute and am planning and tracking every penny using the Money Minder System she developed. Don’t think it’s easy for me – it’s not! I much prefer writing and speaking over crunching numbers. But it’s amazing what this process can do. I am quickly seeing the value and results. At first it feels restricting, tedious, even a bit scary. But as you progress, you start seeing more choices and options.

If you haven’t already downloaded our free Spending X-Ray, we recommend you do so.

Our favorite book on the subject is The Budget Kit, by Judy Lawrence (Kaplan Publishing, 2008, Fifth Edition), an easy-to-use workbook that can help you gain control of your spending and organize your records ... once and for all! The comprehensive worksheets and charts allow you to set financial goals, plan, and monitor your spending. It even helps you organize for tax time. Inspiring stories from people who have used The Budget Kit to change their financial lives for the better will keep you motivated. A simple tool that can make a tremendous difference.

In addition, here are some other budgeting and tracking programs you may want to check out:

Do you have a favorite budgeting program? Feel free to tell us about it here!

Share Your Favorite Budgeting Programs!

Share your favorite budgeting program. Please be sure to tell us how long you've been using it, why you like it, results you've seen, and anything else you would like to share.

Note: This is not a place to sell any services! If you would like to promote a product or service you must fill out the form on our partner page. Sales pitches will not be published.

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