I asked you how do you take care of your finance few days ago because I’m a mess and I have no idea how much I spend in a month. I also asked some friends. Ironically four economists (Ph.D to be) and none of us take care of our $$. Not that we have much to take care of (poor grad student) but at least to have an idea of how much we spend in each category raptly. Shame on us π¦
Yesterday I decided to take control over $$. πΏ How hard can it be? Well… just couple of hours of “research” until I found two very handy programs π
The first one is recommended by Gina:Β Mac iWork Numbers
- Spreadsheets are built on a flexible, free-form canvas. So you can move tables, charts, graphics, and text anywhere you want on the page. As tables resize, objects automatically adjust to fit around them.
- Numbers lets you create categories based on information from any column. It automatically generates a summary row for each category. By using just the summary row, you can collapse, expand, and rearrange categories to organize your data any way you want.
Why I like it:
- It comes with a format for personal finance. You just need to copy paste banking report (summary that you can download from your online banking) into the template and you’ll have a spending summary by category.
- It’s easy to change font/color.
- It’s visually prettier than excel.
- It’s more user friendly than excel.
I’ve created a template. If you need a copy, let me know π
The second one is Pageonce
Pageonce was designed to help you control your finances. With Pageonce you can easily track your bank accounts, credit cards, investment and travel plans, monitor bills and manage your money. Pageonce is available to online or on your mobile, anytime and anywhere you need it.
What’s so good about it?
- It’s FREE, just sign up for an account either online or with your iphone.
- Alerts and notification to pay bills. So, no more late charges.
- You can add all your account: checking account, credit card, mileage programs, utilities, paypal… etc. You don’t need to log-in in multiple accounts and websites to see your transactions, just Page Once π
- You can take it everywhere. I just download the iphone app (also free).
I recommend Pageonce for daily use (if you are iphone/blackberry user) and Numbers once a week to keep track of your spending. π
If you’re like me, who never look into bills and don’t keep track of spending, you’d better START NOW. Why? Because things can go out of control, just like what happened to me this month. I got shocked when I realize how much I am spending!!! Some seriously control is needed here.
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Back to eats. Nothing fancy but I did make a new breakfast combo
Baked Apple (Manzana Asada). It’s a classic argentinean dessert. Simple, tasty and comforting.
Ingredients:
- an apple
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
- cinnamon
Method:
- Take out the core of the apple
- Put the butter and sugar in the hole
- Bake at 350 F for 30 min
- Add cinnamon.
I made a mess with a cup of greek yogurt.
YUM~
After a week of random and non standard eats (roasted chicken, indian food and pizza), I craved simple food, mainly veggies.
garlic sauteed chinese green bean
cabbage sauteed with dry shrimp
served with oatmeal porridge
A complete leisure day also involved 3 hours nap π― (I woke up at 6AM even though I went to bed at 2AM the night before) andΒ magazine reading. I had more things to do like cleaning, laundry, exchanging fall-summer clothes, etc, but I was lazy and tired. I guess after a big battle, we need some good rest. π
Today’s plan: heading to NYC to hear Gotan Project and play with Maggie!!! π
Q: What’s your favorite kitchen gadget/appliance?
oh i love baked apples! my fave appliance is…..::drumroll:: my new vitamix! it just came this week and i LOVE it! it beats the pants off my old blender!
I’m a chef, so I’m simple and think my Japanese vegetable knife is my favorite. I not only chop with it super fast, but I peel garlic (a good whack!) and scare of burglars with it.
You apple looks delicious! I love baked apples with the creaminess of greek yogurt!
Ummmm that baked apple looks INSANE! Yuuuum! π
I love my immersion blender!
That apple looks so good!!! I was supposed to make a recipe like that for work (for a food demo) but I ended up using another one instead. I thought it would take too long, but perhaps I was wrong! Your recipe sounds much more simple.
I really love the Mac finance program. I do think it’s much prettier than Excel, but something that I’ve noticed is that it’s hard to print it without it going on to two pages. It’s strange. The same problem exists with Excel though, really.
One thing I am good at is knowing where my money is going….to my kids!! LOL!!
My 2 favourite kitchen gadgets would have to be my Magic Bullet and immersion blneder. Both very handy!
Those budgeting progams really do look helpful! I am loving the look of that baked apple, Coco! It’s one of my favorite treats this time of year!
When I think about software like that, I’m alsways torn between great and scary. It’s great because it really makes things easier, and it’s scary becaue you feed so many sensitive data in there. Imagine you integrate all your various accounts into a single program, and you have a app to control it from your iPhone, what will happen if you lose your iPhone? It’s all laid open on there. Is it safe? Can’t it be hacked easily?
My favorite kitchen aids are my blender and a knife I like to use for cutting veggies and meat. I also like my vegetable peeler. π
so great that you decided to take control of your personal finances. when i have a regular paycheck, i’m planning on doing the same. π
my fave kitchen appliance right now is my spiralizer!
Great finance tips! I definitely started keeping track of my finances once I moved out of my parent’s house and learned the hard way that I’ve got to save, save, save. Great looking dessert here too! As far as my favorite kitchen appliance, I’d have to say the immersion blender gets to make an appearance at least 2 or 3 times a week!
good post kind of made me hungry although in regards to taking control of your personal finance you also gotta consider credit as a big factor and lots of people are hurting because they do have bad scores. improve credit score
our kitchen appliances are well maintained and taking good care of by doing some routine maintennance once a month “
i always make sure that our kitchen appliances are very clean and shiny before using them -~-