$9,662.94
See? It's going down, little by little. My strategy these days when it comes to spending with my credit card is basically this: I either (a) try not to charge anything or (b) pay off more than I charge each month. This month it had to be the latter because of timing issues with my paycheck. I made a charge for some electronics I purchased, then immediately adjusted the amount scheduled to be paid on my credit card to compensate. I wanted to use this post to make you aware of some of the financial tools I employ in my everyday life that you may find useful if you don't use them already.
The most important tool I use is Quicken. I have used Quicken since 1999 and, because of it, have not bounced a check or overdrawn an account because I thought I had more money than I did. Quicken is simple to use, and if you're an owner of a Macintosh computer that you've purchased in the last several years, then you already own the software. I'm sure it comes installed on some PCs, too, though I'm not sure which ones. For the uninitiated, Quicken is software that helps you to keep track of your finances. What I love about it is that you can make it as simple or as detailed as you want. There is a huge wealth of features, from keeping track of your savings account balance to managing your stock portfolio, this software really can do it all. I know that many of you probably do online banking and maybe you think that is good enough for keeping track of your money, and you may be right. The nice thing about Quicken, however, is that you enter transactions into it as soon as you make them, so you always have the most accurate count of your money possible, even when transactions take up to a week to clear your bank accounts and appear on your statements. I really can't say enough about this software. If you are serious about managing your money, I heartily suggest this as an excellent first step.
The next thing I use almost as often as quicken is Checkfree. Checkfree is a free online bill paying service. I know that many banks offer online bill pay, but the nice thing about Checkfree is that it isn't tiedd to one bank account. I pay 90% of my bills using this service. It has never paid late and I've never had a mistake happen that wasn't caused by me. They have tons of credit card companies, including store credit cards, utility bills, wireless phone services, and tons more. My one complaint is that my cable company isn't on there, but who knows? They may be soon.
The third and final tool I'm going to point out today is Annual Credit Report. Unlike Freecreditreport.com, Annual Credit Report is a truly free credit report service that doesn't constantly pester you to buy more services or packages of credit reports and scores. It keeps you in the database and allows you to access each of your three credit reports each year. The clever consumer will space these out over the year so you basically get a chance to check your report for free every four months. The free reports do not include a FICO score, but each agency offers the scores for as little as $4.95 each. Please, do not pay for one of those packages that gives you everything at once. They really are overpriced when you can get the same info for next to nothing. I'm even a little ashamed of Suze Orman for trying to sell her own overpriced FICO kit, but I like her otherwise.
The most important tool I use is Quicken. I have used Quicken since 1999 and, because of it, have not bounced a check or overdrawn an account because I thought I had more money than I did. Quicken is simple to use, and if you're an owner of a Macintosh computer that you've purchased in the last several years, then you already own the software. I'm sure it comes installed on some PCs, too, though I'm not sure which ones. For the uninitiated, Quicken is software that helps you to keep track of your finances. What I love about it is that you can make it as simple or as detailed as you want. There is a huge wealth of features, from keeping track of your savings account balance to managing your stock portfolio, this software really can do it all. I know that many of you probably do online banking and maybe you think that is good enough for keeping track of your money, and you may be right. The nice thing about Quicken, however, is that you enter transactions into it as soon as you make them, so you always have the most accurate count of your money possible, even when transactions take up to a week to clear your bank accounts and appear on your statements. I really can't say enough about this software. If you are serious about managing your money, I heartily suggest this as an excellent first step.
The next thing I use almost as often as quicken is Checkfree. Checkfree is a free online bill paying service. I know that many banks offer online bill pay, but the nice thing about Checkfree is that it isn't tiedd to one bank account. I pay 90% of my bills using this service. It has never paid late and I've never had a mistake happen that wasn't caused by me. They have tons of credit card companies, including store credit cards, utility bills, wireless phone services, and tons more. My one complaint is that my cable company isn't on there, but who knows? They may be soon.
The third and final tool I'm going to point out today is Annual Credit Report. Unlike Freecreditreport.com, Annual Credit Report is a truly free credit report service that doesn't constantly pester you to buy more services or packages of credit reports and scores. It keeps you in the database and allows you to access each of your three credit reports each year. The clever consumer will space these out over the year so you basically get a chance to check your report for free every four months. The free reports do not include a FICO score, but each agency offers the scores for as little as $4.95 each. Please, do not pay for one of those packages that gives you everything at once. They really are overpriced when you can get the same info for next to nothing. I'm even a little ashamed of Suze Orman for trying to sell her own overpriced FICO kit, but I like her otherwise.
posted by Joel Stuart at
9:17 AM
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