THE MISSING PUZZLE PIECE FOUND

THE MISSING PUZZLE PIECE FOUND

Then one day I had an epiphany. I had been tracking our expenses until I was blue in the face, I was averaging our monthly expenditures, I had a spreadsheet all pretty and efficient. And still we were overspending and getting further in debt. For instance, we averaged about $700 a month on groceries. If the checkbook was empty, I'd put the groceries on a credit card, justifying that the next paycheck would cover it. And we went went further and further into financial hell.

Now here is the missing puzzle piece, so read this carefully, it will turn your financial life around in a serious way.

The missing piece was the realization that all my tracking and averaging was NOT budgeting. I knew exactly what we spent every single month. The missing key was knowing how much we SHOULD be spending every single month.

Just because we averaged $700 on groceries does not mean that we could afford $700. So the next step was to find the magic formula on how much we should be spending.

I'm going to send you to a website and I want you to know, from one saver to another potential saver, these links and tools are free, and including my Free Budget Tracker Spreadsheet . (When it opens, click File, Download As, and choose the format you prefer.)

You also need the Spending Plan Online Calculator. It is a free tool from Crown Financial Ministries which is a religious site and if that offends you, then you need to just get over it. Use the calculator and move on.

(Picture below - not a live link - click to zoom in)