I’ll never forget a talk Joe and I gave to an audience of several hundred people. In the Q&A a young woman timidly asked, “But how do you track your expenses?” Joe looked at her in disbelief. “You take out your little book (he always had one – in his plastic pocket protecter lined breast pocket – along with a pen). And you write it down. Is that so hard?” She withered. I rescued her with a few words of compassion.
A card in the wallet or a little blank book still work fine for tracking. I’ve switched to using a debit card for all purchases and let Visa track for me and my Quicken Program download and categorize for me so my task is simply a monthly review. In recent years, though, I’ve noticed more and more online tools for tracking. Intrigued as I am by new tools I checked out one several years ago called Money Pants. Nice but it was budget based, not awareness based, and was missing the vital Step 4 evaluation. Now there is a slew of new tools. I leave it to you to see if they serve you as you apply the 9-step program. Here’s a Christian Science Monitor article that names them. If you like any or use any, please leave a comment here so others can benefit. Or if you have developed your own system that works like a charm, let us know.
Vicki, your talk last night was brilliant; we have not had so much fun in years and any speaker who can teach “money lessons” in the midst of the current economic woes AND have her audience laughing deserves praise – and attention!
To readers of this blog – go and hear Vicki speak, if you have the opportunity, and buy the book! It could well be your best investment of the year.
Happy New Year to all!
Lya Sorano, Founder & Principal
Atlanta Women in Business
Thank you for the tracking tool ideas. I read CSMonitor, (great resource!!), chose Mint.com, have signed up my accounts, and look forward to going from red to black (or is it green?) one of these days.
I’ve been a fan of your book since 1992.
EBrown