I should get paid...

...for writing this about Budgetpulse and CouponSense. Today I finished data entry for our 2009 Income and Expense Report (yeah, it is as official as it sounds) and submitted a copy to our head honcho (or Mr. Kevin). And boy it is categorized to a T. For the last 12 months, I kept track of the ins and outs of 8 different savings and checking accounts, including FSA. So I was pretty excited to get 2009 all closed and ready for review.

Budgetpulse


I am so pleased that I know exactly how much was spent on groceries, eating out, car maintenance, medical and dental expenses, trips, birthdays, holidays, Christmas, kids' classes, and clothing to name a few categories. In BP, each category can also be subcategorized. For example, for clothing, I created separate subcategories for me, Kevin, and the kids -- just so I know how much was spent on my clothing alone, or the kids alone. Utilities is broken down into 5 different subcategories. For example I can tell you our combined average monthly utilities bill (Cable, Internet, Water/Trash, Gas, Electric, & Phone) or how much we paid SRP for the year by looking at a page summary. I really love this online based financial management system. I am loving that at one click I can find out how much it all actually costs vs. a rough estimate in my head. I can pull information on any given month, search any of my transactions for the year (say, I want to see all my transactions tagged "Work Lunches").


Couponing

I was also pleased to find out that the couponing really saved us a whole lot this year too. I kept track of only $900 worth of paper coupons that I clipped AND used (thanks to CouponSense! - I probably faithfully did coupons for 9 months out of the year), but the end savings on groceries was a whole lot more than that.

Our food bill this year was around the same as we spent 7 years ago when we had just Allie, and I was able to stock extra food storage, and cases of home-canned food (chicken, beef, sausage, potatoes, peaches, pears and beans) without spending extra money. I didn't have near that 3 or even 7 years ago. I knew the coupons were making a difference, but I just didn't know how much.

I was pretty amazed with the savings! This whole method of stock-up shopping really works! There truly is wisdom in the prophet telling us to have at least a 3-month supply of food in our homes. Not only is it good to be prepared, but it helps SAVE money as well.

2010 Budget

I think Kev is pretty proud (in a good way) because up til 2008, he was doing the keeping track, but this online program definitely tops our homemade Excel program we had been using for 5 or 6 years. Now we can compare month by month, quarter by quarter, and year by year our income, expenses and savings/losses for ALL of our accounts or FOR EACH account. I love this feature! Because man, the amount you have left in checking at the end of the month doesn't mean you saved that money. I can look on Budgetpulse to see if we actually lived within our means (or not) and by how much, where/what we can cut to save even more money this year. AND last but not least, our budget for next year is DONE!