Comments on: Simplify Your Life

By: Theresa Delgado

Theresa Delgado — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:20:52 +0000

Great article.

A couple of years back I set up a few different accounts at the bank and it helps me to stay on top of our ‘special’ bills, monthly bills, and savings. This way each account is specially allocated and I can easy track everything throughout the year.

Thanks again – Theresa

By: International Money Advice from Plonkee Money | Money Smart Life

International Money Advice from Plonkee Money | Money Smart Life — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:19:32 +0000

[...] -Frugal Dad shows us how to simplify our personal finances [...]

By: SingleGuyMoney

SingleGuyMoney — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:40:03 +0000

Great article. I need to sit down and do this myself. I have so many accounts that I have opened over the years. I actually got a statement the other day from a bank I’d totally forgotten about.

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:25:09 +0000

Ok.. I have a question…. Does making weekly or biweekly payments work on car payments??? Or does you lender have to offer a special program to do that and have it save you on interest???

By: Diane

Diane — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 05:30:06 +0000

I do levelized billing for my electric bill & I love it because if varies only a little from month to month & no huge bills in the summer.

I don’t like the idea of auto pay – I’d prefer to trigger my own payments. I do pay nearly every bill online, and it takes just a few minutes each month.

I have one local bank account, plus ING, and I monitor my college son’s account at a 3rd bank (more convenient in his college town).

I have been thinking of opening a high-interest checking account at a local bank – pays 5.5% the highest I’ve found anywhere. Problem is I would actually have to use it as my primary checking due to direct deposit & debit use requirements. I’ve been with my local bank for 25 years – and I LIKE it. But its not where I can get decent interest on my money.

So I’m torn. I don’t want to close my long-time checking account. I’m considering opening the high interest checking & maintaining the other to see how it goes. It will complicate things, but with ING paying less than 2% interest, 5.5% is looking good…

By: Deborah

Deborah — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:43:03 +0000

I wish my mortgage company would allow for automatic withdrawals from the bank without charging an additional $300. For many homeowners, like myself who get paid twice a month, two timely withdrawals a month would save a lot of interest money over the life of the loan.

For now, I send two checks a month, after carefully copying my statement and making sure the address for the second envelope is perfect.

I am still afraid that the second payment, since it is not in their standard envelope, will languish on some desk somewhere.

By: Squawkfox

Squawkfox — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:48:41 +0000

I have a few accounts and one I share with my husband. I like to keep my emergency fund in a separate area – for safe keeping.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:15:35 +0000

Reducing budget categories is key. It takes a lot of time and is a big hassle to do so. Consolidate and combine categories or just track all cash items together instead of nitpick.

By: Steven@hundredgoals.com

Steven@hundredgoals.com — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:01:41 +0000

I agree that simplifying the accounts is the best way to go. The less you have, the less worry over them. For those who are just beginning to dig themselves out of debt, tracking spending is very important, though I don’t think it is necessary to divide the household expenses into a variety of categories as you used to do. I think the high level approach still makes sense in any situation, so long as it is being done. It is something that I am not as thorough as I should be. I should work on that.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:29:07 +0000

I’ve also been “enjoying” the relatively detailed tracking and analysis of expenses in an effort to reduce spending and ensure spending lines up with personal financial goals. I have comment/insight that I’d offer in response to this post (which I enjoyed). I spend much of my day thinking about how to most effectively develop software (this is my day job). There’s a correlation that I noticed while reading your post. Identifying the right metrics to track is a key activity when planning how software development projects will be managed. In the software development context it is typical to focus on a few measures until improvement is both measured and stable, then begin tracking different measures.

In the personal finance context a similar approach could be taken (as you describe). For instance, one might start out by tracking detailed, variable outflow of expenses since these are typically the items where ignorance of the number is most typical and detrimental. Most people know how much their mortgage is but often have an unrealistic perception of their spending on food or daily habits. Once detailed tracking has informed and helped instantiate positive change in spending habits, one might shift focus to the big ticket spending and/or net worth tracking.

As I read your article it seemed to be a reminder to folks that it is possible and even beneficial (given the time/sanity cost) to streamline the “metrics” you gather about your personal finances so you are focused on the financial issues that you are most concerned with now, not months or years ago.

Just my thought… I really enjoy reading your blog and just wanted to add a bit to the conversation.