Personal Finance Blog | Money Management Blog | Financial Help

Since living within a budget is a good short-term and long-term investment, I’m always looking for tips to help me get a better return.

I have a good friend who has twin toddlers and a third one on the way. One day when I was visiting with him, he told me about how he and his wife do their grocery shopping. When they started using the Finicity Money Manager, they began to realize that they would have large swings in their grocery envelope. As they analyzed it, they realized they were making many stops at the grocery store to pick up items they ran out of. And each time they stopped, they always ended up buying more than just the things they needed.

Grocery Stores, can you please put the milk and eggs at the front of the store so we’re not tempted to buy other things?

As this happened more and more often, they began to exceed their grocery envelope. To fix this, they came up with a master list of items, both groceries and household items. At the beginning of each month, they started buying non-perishable items (enough for the whole month). It took a month or two for them to figure out the correct quantities, but once they got that figured out, they began to see results very fast. Now they’re saving both money and time.

Kyle Lloyd, Accounting

As a longtime follower of the envelope money management method, it never ceases to amaze me of the many unintended benefits that come from practicing this concept. Recently we had a family situation come up that brought one of these benefits to the forefront to remind us of how powerful this concept really is in our lives.

My oldest child is eleven and very into technical gadgets. This past Christmas he purchased a video iPod with his savings (placed in an actual savings envelope with cash) and a few gift certificates he received from family members. Needless to say he was on cloud nine and his iPod became his pride and joy. Fast forward to summertime and our hectic schedule. Several times my son’s iPod was saved from imminent destruction after it was found in his shorts pocket prior to going through the washing machine. Unfortunately, after a weekend of camping he was not so lucky as his iPod made it into the washer for a full cycle. After trying everything imaginable, including what we found on the web, we did not get so much as a flicker of life out of the thing.

This is where envelope budgeting comes in. My wife and I implemented the envelope concept with our son when he was six or seven. One of the key things we have been able to accomplish with this concept is to instill the idea in our children that they are responsible for earning their own money and caring for the things they purchase. This includes not leaving your iPod in your shorts. Well, we thought these lessons might get seriously tested due to the high price of the item involved, but I am glad to say that our son accepted the responsibility in stride and did not expect his parents to pay for the replacement.

The real kicker in the whole situation came the next week when my son got paid for mowing one of his lawns. He brought his savings envelope into the kitchen and announced how much money he had left to save to replace his iPod and a few things he would forgo to save faster. We are now getting twice weekly updates of the amount left and the jobs he has lined up to provide the needed money. The best part of this story is that all of this was accomplished with limited discussion with his parents. The envelope concept has been a great teaching tool for us and has made it easy for our boys to grasp and use it in their everyday lives.

Richard Kuhn, Business Development

I have to admit that I am a big fan of Financial Guru, Dave Ramsey. I recently went to one of his Total Money Makeover Live events and absolutely loved it! He has tremendous passion for teaching people how to get out of debt, get control of their finances and ultimately better their lives. My wife convinced me that we could move money from one of our discretionary envelopes to purchase a few of the children’s books they promoted at the event. Now, not only am I telling my friends and family about how Finicity helps us budget with the envelope method, but my 4 year-old is too! Whenever she hears someone talking about money she has to tell them that her Daddy uses Mvelopes (we’re still working with her on the whole Mvelopes to Finicity transition thing).

One of the best results of this has been the transformation to our mornings! Leaving for work in the morning used to be a ritual of her whining and begging that I stay home and play all day with her. But now, thanks to Ramsey’s “Jr.” books, the morning dialogue with my daughter goes simply:

“Daddy, where are you going?”

“When you need money…” I say, “You gotta go to work!” she chimes in excitedly.

Then she gives me a kiss and a hug, and I’m off. Who knew that something like the “Envelope Method of Budgeting” would not only lead to financial control and freedom, but a whine-free morning!

Kristopher Higley, Designer

Hello there.

Now that you’ve found us, it’s probably a good time to explain what this blog is all about, so here’s the quick version:

• Enjoy Your Money (EYM) is a new blog from Finicity, a Utah-based money management company
• We’re best known for Mvelopes, the award-winning money management system
• Hopefully you like your blogs spicy (i.e. variety), since EYM is written by numerous Finicity employees

Now if at this point you’re asking yourself “This is madness! Why? Why would they do something like this?” here is the answer you seek: EYM is designed to offer you a wide variety of views and opinions on money, life and anything else that strikes our fancy (which is rare). And even if we don’t always take ourselves seriously, rest assured our #1 goal is to help you manage, save and (you guessed it) enjoy your money. Check out www.enjoy.finicity.com for a trial of our Money Manager and helpful tips, advice and more.

Cheers!

The Finicity Team

*Okay, so maybe the whole world isn’t rejoicing, but we’re still excited!