Just like everyone else during the housing boom last decade, I went ahead and purchased a home that I could not afford. Back then, like everyone else, trying to get a loan approved was easy with no problems at all. As a single guy, my plan was to have a couple roommates to live with me to help offset some of the monthly payments associated with owning a home, namely the mortgage. With the mortgage rate at 6.75%, my mortgage  payments was at a skyrocket high of $2,250/mo with my net monthly income barely hovering around $3,000/mo at the time. How I got approved for the loan, I still have no idea. In fact, I still curse at the bank that originally approved me for that loan. However, having two roommates in a 3-bedroom townhome definitely helped me not only offset that huge monthly cost, but also help me save a few bucks a month at the same time!

Fast forward a few years and a mortgage refinancing at 5.5%, I now make enough money to be able to afford this home, without the help of any roommates. Although I still have one roommate currently,  I can live comfortably on my own without the help of my roommate’s money. I still allow him to live with me because the money is good. It’s like having a discount on my mortgage payment.

I can do this now since I am still single. I told him that once I get married, he must move out. The money I collect from my roommate does get included into my source of income and does account for in my budgeting. I have been depositing most of my savings every month in a high-yield online savings account such as ING Direct. However, the money I will save through my roommate’s rent can no longer be accounted for when he does in fact move out in the future so I will definitely be missing that. Until then, I will be embracing the money I will be saving every month.

There are so many online websites and tools to help you budget your own money. People are signing up for Mint.com or Justbudget.com or Hellowallet.com or Budgettracker.com and so on. These online sites are becoming more popular each day because people in general need help with managing their own money. Just google “online budget” and you’ll get a ton of results with different websites offering tools to help you manage your budget better.

Say No To Mint, Justbudget, Hellowallet and Budgettracker

Personally, I like to manage my own budget and have more sense of control of where my money is going or spent. The tools that these sites offer are nice and helpful, but it’s really not necessary. You don’t have to link all of your credit cards and/or checking and savings accounts and such and such.

It can be very simple and take only 10 minutes a month to manage. Let me introduce you to, wait for it… EXCEL! Yeah, you’ve heard of it. A simple spreadsheet that lets you add and subtract is all the software you need. Trust me, it’s very easy. There’s no linking of accounts or anything like that.

My Budget Skeleton

For every month, I have different line item for each bill that I pay every month, including a line for each credit card, mortgage, cable, phone, utilities, water, etc. etc. I also have a line item for money coming in, such as roommate and income from my day job.  Next to each of these line items, I have a column for date when the billing cycle is over for that specific item. That way, I know when I can start thinking about paying off that bill. Personally, I like to pay off each bill as soon as it’s ready for payment, so I don’t include the bill due date column. But you may include it if you feel it’ll help you. Next to that, I have a column for expected budget for that specific item. For instance, I have a budget of $290 for my Chase Mastercard because I use that credit card for my gas purchases only. I have a separate budget for my Discover Card for all my other credit card expenses. So, as I’m paying each bill, I type in the the amount and it sums it all up for me. At the very bottom, it tells me whether I exceeded the monthly budget or in line with my monthly budget. You can download an excel template that I use for my own personal budgeting. Feel free to use it and modify it to your liking.

Hopefully, your budget will allow you to save some money every month where you can put away in a high-yield online savings account, such as HSBC, ING Direct, or Discover Bank.

There are many reviews that people have written about Mint.com. I checked it out and I like it. But for what I do, I feel that my excel template serves its purpose. Check out Doughroller‘s such review.

When I first started my blog Money Green Life, the direction of the blog I was hoping was to write articles about saving energy and saving money at the same time. Since I have extensive knowledge about saving energy, I figured it was a good match. I still have visions of carrying out such hope as I will continue writing about the topic. However, I also have been having visions of expanding and writing about other topics that I am passionate about. I love the topic of energy, I’m always in the lookout for money saving/making opportunities, and I love playing poker. If these topics were to be combined together, you get a single common denominator in personal finance.

In this new direction of the blog, I plan to write about tips, advice, and reviews of products that help save energy thus saving money as I have been doing currently. In addition, I will also write about poker strategies that I have learned over the course of a few years I have been playing. With the money saved and money earned from saving energy and playing poker respectively, personal finance will come into play and I will write about tips and strategies that help to optimize money savings.

I am very excited with this new direction of this blog. I hope that you will find it useful.