While I started out in the red due to school loans, credit card debt, and a car loan, it was MOTIVATING to not only see my debts reduce to zero one-by-one (from most-expensive to least-expensive), but also to see my net worth climb month-to-month. Initially, the challenge was to see that number continue to grow linearly. I’ve been doing this long enough that exponential growth is now obvious, so my new challenge is to figure out how to improve that growth.

When I had a hard drive failure and lost several months of data, I re-entered it all in a backup copy of my financial file. THAT’s how motivating the net worth graph is to me! It’s also why I would not switch fully to something like Mint.com (which I did set up when evaluating whether to switch to Quicken after Microsoft quit Money).

When I switched to Quicken, I started using the automatic account synchronization. I still verify every transaction, so I still have the same control as when I entered every item manually, but it is good enough that I only occasionally go to my accounts’ websites (to make transfers for the ones I pay manually, or to verify mortgage interest). Another reason to use the software is that I can easily sync to ALL my accounts on a regular basis – even the ones that only have a single transaction or less every month.

Dwight Anthony
Financially Elite Blog dot Com

Tracking and planning spending via the budget is the single best thing I have ever done. It changed our lives. We are out of cc debt, paying off nearly 18K in 20 months, have a 4 month cushion, an IRA, and a college fund for our kids.

Now that I have more experience with money management, I think I could handle Quicken. The downside to YNAB is that is does not tract investments as well as Quicken does. It is a great, simple budgeting and planning tool though. A perfect starting place for getting a handle on your finances when you can’t seem to get started. I may now try QUicken since I’m thrilled to pay bills and update the budget now–I need a new level, lol

I am seeing that I am not good at keep a credit card anymore. It is essentially gone until I have spending under control. Since I am older :>) cash is MUCH more difficult for me to spend. One can go through a lot of money for Christmas on the Internet. I went over slightly, and that cannot happen again if the rest of the year is going to be comfortable.

The helpful part of our existence is we live 20 minutes from town and 40 minutes from the nearest big town shopping. Our closest store is …Walmart. Yes, Walmart is the only place that continues to service the small towns in the US. Although, the Internet is my husband’s way of getting all his tools (and me for presents).

When we move to “the city” in five to ten years, then we will have to track every penny. There are far more temptations in a city! We know, because we have lived in more than a few of them (DC, HongKong, Riyadh, Wuerzburg, Honolulu). The farm is sooo much quieter:>)

I just wish I could wave a wand and figure out how they are going to change health care and Social Security in the next five years. Saving for a vast unknown is difficult!

http://quicken.intuit.com/support/articles/using-quicken/patches-and-updates/4366.html

I’m still using QfM 2005 but I’m nervous about it finally giving up the ghost.

I still write out my budget each time I organise my pay though and I use a mixture of notepad/calculator (on my computer) and post-its and a pen. Lately, I’m recording how much I’m earning at work and estimating my pay. I also use an excel spreadsheet to record how much I save towards what goal each pay. So far, this system works for me.

ETA: To answer your question, I’ve paid off all consumer debt and will finish paying off my HUGE student loans this year. I plan to continue to track my spending though.

He was finally re-earning reasonable money this summer and I was stressing… and realized I needed to rebuild an emergency fund (Ha ha==$926 saved now on SmartyPig where I can get to it fast enough but not too fast)

I had to resume tracking to start that goal, but had never liked any of my options before. I ran across a free program called ds budget (http://sites.google.com/site/dsbudgethome) (the developer put my email on his web page ) I did like it a lot. It’s simple and intuitive, runs off-line in your internet browser, so no software install. No downloading though–the developer in an email told me his view of automation–that it makes you less mindful of your spending. And I agree- I will always track myself, not download bank accounts. I found I spend more time messing with reconciling the download than printing out my statement and just keying it myself. But there were still some features I wasn’t liking or missing…so I went hunting again.

And finally found an oldie– the Original Pear Budget Spreadsheet (which is now free!). https://www.pearbudget.com/spreadsheet

I know they have an online one, but I like offline, and I’m the only one who tracks the money (the husband wasn’t interested and actually, ahem, moved out last month. Spending is now way down.)

I love the Pearbudget spreadsheet. Fifteen minutes a week, different areas of regular, variable, and irregular expenses, and with Excel’s “Comment” feature (shift-F2) I can add the details of my expenses to each cell if I want to. Or not, if it’s just gasoline.

Lot more money in the bank now. I’ll not stop tracking again.

I like the analogy of a dieter who needs to count calories again every once in awhile – not because they’ve necessarily gained weight back but because it’s a good check-in. I am not ready to be as meticulous (okay, I said it before so I’ll say it again – obsessive) in 2011 but won’t be surprised if I feel the need to check back in 2012.

I still use Quicken 2007 on Mac and it does perform stock quote updates and even pulls automatic statements from most of my accounts.

While I probably don’t _need_ to track my spending, the insights Quick gives me is wonderful.. My wife and I go through our spending at least a couple of times a year and find places to cut back.

I consider Quicken to be one of the main reasons why I have gone from a net worth of $0 to nearly $500k in 10 years… I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years brings (now I just hope Intuit comes out with an actual upgrade to Q2007, I’m not holding my breath though)

I was inspired to start tracking my spending (and generally getting a handle on my finances) because of this blog, so thank you J.D. for providing this wonderful resource!

I’m wondering too! I searched the comments AND searched the site and was shocked that I was the only one interested in finding out what this is. Then I saw Kevin M. What is it, JD?

I use an Excel spreadsheet, but as an unmarried college girl who makes $3000 a year and gets expenses covered by parents, there’s not really much in there. My only categories: Roth IRA, Charity, Food, Clothes Etc. But I do enter every credit/debit purchase with varying levels of detail.

I also have the same cash problem many mentioned above. When I see it in my wallet it feels like free money, and although I try to remember to record it, I almost never do. So credit/debit is the way for me.