The secret to money management is to spend less than you earn. But you can’t do that unless you know what’s Left. What’s Left after your pay the rent, food, and gas to drive to work?
Duh. Subtract the rent, food, and gas from your paycheck. THAT is what’s left! Still, this can be tough to manage when you’re juggling 10 other bills that come every month, at varying times of the month.
I just bought a new, used pickup. My payment is $500, due on the 10th of each month. Yeah I know, that’s steep, but I drive a 4×4 pickup because I live in Texas.
Since I get paid on the 1st & 15th of each month, I setup a recurring entry to show on the 1st of the month, even though the payment won’t be sent until the 10th. This way, when I get my paycheck, I also see the corresponding car payment!
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My balance is automatically adjusted, and I KNOW what’s left! Hence, I can make rational spending decisions. I don’t need to worry how I’ll get the money for the payment; as far as my checkbook shows, I never had it.
When checkoncile downloads the bank’s entry, the date will automatically be adjusted to the actual date it hit the bank.
That’s money management: Getting your money to work for you. That’s checkoncile.