Four Free Budgeting Resources

by Crystal on January 03, 2011

Hoping to get your finances in order in 2011? Here are four free resources to help you:

Mint.com: Set up a free online Mint.com account to track your income and outgo and stick with your budget.

Eastern Shore Mom’s Free Budget Spreadsheet: Download a free Excel Spreadsheet from Eastern Shore Mom to keep a record of your monthly expenditures.

Free Savings Tracker: Would you like to know how much you’re really saving by using coupons? You can download the free 2011 Savings Tracker (available in both Excel and Google Docs format) and do just that and more!

Free Zero-Based Budgeting Worksheet: Saving With Pam is offering a free downloadable budgeting worksheet to help you stick with a zero-based budget.

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{ 13 comments... read them below or add one }

Julie January 03, 2011 at 09:22 am

I used the Savings Tracker from The Coupon Project.com last year and it was a fabulous help. I think there are some new features for this year. I have it downloaded but haven’t been shopping yet to use it.
CarrieSF January 03, 2011 at 10:02 am

Hi, Crystal, which budget software do you use? Thanks!
- Crystal January 03, 2011 at 10:47 am
  
  We use Quicken for personal, QuickBooks for business. For a long time, we actually just used a ledger. It’s only in the last two years that we’ve gone more “sophisticated” in order to save time.
  - CarrieSF January 03, 2011 at 11:17 am
    
    @Crystal, Thanks!
Courtney January 03, 2011 at 10:32 am

Thank you for the resources!!!
Aubrey January 03, 2011 at 11:04 am

Thanks for posting Crystal! I hope everyone enjoys the FREE downloadable Budget planner!
BS January 03, 2011 at 11:30 am

I have to say I used Mint for a while and I didn’t like it at all! It would constantly apply charges through my bank to one catagory “Shopping” and give me all these notices of us going over budget. The thing was we were always under budget, Mint was just doing it’s own thing.
Caitlin January 03, 2011 at 01:22 pm

If you decide to sign up for mint.com, you can actually sign up through InboxDollars or Swagbucks and get PAID to do it. Pretty cool. I did this the other day and have really enjoyed mint.com.
- Susan January 03, 2011 at 03:45 pm
  
  @Caitlin, How did you sign up through Swagbucks? I went to the SB website and didn’t find anything. Thanks!
Maggie January 03, 2011 at 02:50 pm

Also check out PearBudget. It’s a free downloadable spreadsheet that is the best ready-made budget I’ve ever found!
- Crystal January 03, 2011 at 03:10 pm
  
  Thank you for that recommendation!
Jess January 04, 2011 at 04:09 pm

Crystal,

Have you been able to track rollover funds in Quicken? For example, if the heat bill is $10 under budget one month and $5 over budget the next month I still am $5 under for the two consecutive months.

I’m also looking for a system that helps me keep track of separate funds I’m saving in one account. For example, I budget my different insurances each month so I have enough set aside when they’re due. Do you know of something that will keep track of balances within an account?

Thanks in advance!
Amy f:) January 04, 2011 at 10:00 pm

anymore feedback about mint? DH has been wanting to upgrade our 12 year old quicken.