While I realize that one budgeting approach will not fit everyone, I found one that works for me, so I figured it will probably work for a lot of other people. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an existing program that met my needs. Therefore, I created Payday Priorities.
The problem I had with most other budget applications is this:
- I don’t want to group all of my finances into monthly amounts. Too many things, including my paycheck, don’t fit evenly into a month. And, a month is a long time if you’ve gotten off budget or underestimated an expense.
- I don’t want to track every dime I spend and try to figure out what category it fits in. This is too tedious and I eventually just lose track.
- There are too many one-time, irregular expenses
- I don’t want to connect to my bank, and/or download and import transactions.
- I want the ability to accommodate a paycheck that may be different amounts each time.
- Lastly, I don’t like to end a month only to look at pie chart with a huge piece called “Miscellaneous”.
What I wanted is to make certain that I’m meeting my long term financial goals and expenses – things that I must have the money for. Then not worry about the day to day expenses. For me, the best way to do this is to break down all those expenses into per paycheck amounts, order them by priority, and then each time I get paid I allocate whatever I need for each expense starting with the highest priority. In essence, I’m spending my entire paycheck as soon as I get it. But I have the peace of mind knowing that my most important expenses are being funded and that I’m on track to meet those due dates.
So I created Payday Priorities to do just that. When my semi-annual insurance is due, I already have the money waiting for it. When it’s time to renew my daughters gymnastics fees, I’ve already saved for it. HOA dues, done. Retirement savings, done. Mortgage, vacation, property taxes, done, done, done.
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