Some Sound Advice

hbl_2

I often follow what crops on digg.com and I've started to see a lot more personal finance stories appearing. This one was featured on the frontpage this evening, and I think it's a great summation of some of the principles of money saving and if you can see past some of the American specifics it's sound personal finance in general.

Check it out.

http://www.womenspersonalfinance.net/2006/09/46_things_i_wis.html

hbl_2

Here's another article, again written with the US in mind, but is fairly close to how I manage my current accounts.

http://dumblittleman.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-i-bank-and-manage-cash.html

I use a main account and an spending 'budget' account to prevent myself from overspending, and guess what? It works.

I put £50 in my spending account each week and when it's gone it's gone. If I come to the end of the week and I have some left I might leave it in there or dump it off into my savings. If I know I have a big weekend coming up then I can skimp the prior week so there's more money in there.

I've only been doing this since June, but in that time I haven't overspent once, and I've managed to meet all the repayment goals I've set myself and save nearly £500.