By Eve on Aug 7, 2007 in Money
UPDATE: We recently switched over from using MVelopes to YNAB- read about how it is going here.
For the last 6 months or so my husband and I have been doing great. Our finances and budget is finally working out. While the only real income change was a .50 cent raise, we went from having a NEGATIVE balance the day before payday, every week; to having over 1,300 in the bank right now. It is truly amazing. I credit Dave Ramsey, and the Mvelopes
program!
MVelopes has a free trial of 30 days, that I took advantage of, after the trial it is only 39 something every quarter. I swear by this program, I tell people about it when I am in line at a grocery store if we get to talking about money. It works just like grandma used to, you allocate ALL of your money into ‘virtual envelopes’ BEFORE you spend it, every dime. Then you have your money accounts linked to it, for instance, I have a checking account, a cash account, and my PayPal account hooked up to MVelopes.
Each time I use my PayPal Debit card, or get a payment, the transaction appears in MVelopes as a new transaction, I then drag and drop that transaction to the right envelope. (Say it was for 5.00 at McDonalds, I would drag it to the ‘Eating out’ Envelope, and 5.00 would deduct from the money in the envelope. (if I budgeted 20.00 to eating out that week, then I would have 15.00 let to eat out on) )
By ‘assigning all of your money before you spend it‘, you are less likely to ‘go over’ if I see 15.00 left in the eating out envelope, I know I cant go out to eat…. unless I transfer money from another account, like savings – but then I would not have as much money in savings, so I usually decide just NOT to go out- it makes you think actively before you cut into savings for something as little as eating out.
It has been absolutely amazing, we have enough money to pay all of our bills, and have money in savings and even in an auto maintenance account. I can’t even rave about this enough, it has made such an impact in our lives. If there was one thing I could ever recommend it would be Mvelopes Personal 3.5 with out a second thought. If you have not tried it yet, head on over for the free thirty day trial. I promise you will not regret it. It saved my husband and I, we were fighting DAILY about where the money went, it went so quickly!
My brother and his wife have been doing that for about a year now, I think – and they LOVE IT!!! Their finances are so in order right now, it’s sickening! LOL! I know I could never get my hubby to do it, but, once I get my income up more, I’d love to do it! If it will work one-sided like that…who knows…couldn’t hurt, I bet!
[...] rot a much more personal post here about this program, but wanted to put up something more ‘business like’ here. This [...]
Thats awesome Lisa – I see a lot of people in the forums (you can access the main forums after you sign up) that are doing it without thier partner at first, then after they show the partner how well THIER finances are, the partner usually gives in! LOL
That’s great to know, Eve – that other people start with only half of the couple willing! Cool! :)
[...] just over at my friend Eve’s blog and she was talking about budgeting software in her article The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage. It’s all about a program called mvelopes. It sounds good but every time I try to click on [...]
how cool. I’ll check them out. I’m happy to say that after discovering Dave Ramsey, hubby and i are DEBT FREE!!!
that is awesome! The program is based on Dave Ramsey’s ideas, the money for life book is just a different version of his envelope method. I LOVE dave Ramsey, he has helped me and my hubby a lot too
Hi, I am including you in next week’s Carnival of Family Life. I am the host next week.
My husband and I worked with our budget and finances after reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. We have envelopes at home, no virtual but the real ones! This system really works as we have control over our expenses more than ever.
Thanks Grace! We did the real envelops at first too, we didn’t have a checking account so everything was cash!
that seems like an awesome idea. unfortunately my husband would never go for it. but it sounds like something i would definately wanna try out.
[...] presents The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage » Housewife Confessions posted at Confessions of an Everyday Housewife, saying, “This is a online budgeting program [...]
Sorry to hear that Jenny, maybe he will come around one day.
evelester presents The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage » Housewife Confessions posted at Confessions of an Everyday Housewife, saying, “based on Dave Ramsey’s financial peace- the use of envelopes to allocate money.”
[...] talks about a simple and smarter budgeting system that works for her family. Read The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage at Confessions of an Everyday Housewife to know [...]
[...] presents The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage » Housewife Confessions posted at Confessions of an Everyday Housewife, saying, “great budgeting tool, uses virtual [...]
Try http://www.budgetedge.com if you are looking for an online budgeting site that’s free.
wow..this info about the ebook is really impressing. Btw, what are the payment method that they can accept besides paypal?
That is so funny. What I mean by that is… I had been using envelopes since I moved out on my own at the age of 17. I’m now 46. I came up with the idea as money was tight, and every $ had a purpose. The plan worked so well that I continued using it after getting married. I must admit I stopped as banking became computerized. I tend to not carry any cash, or use cash for that matter. But I must say I was in way better control of my money using the envelope system. Although we am not in any financial strain now, it is way too easy to spend more than I should. Another benefit I found using the envelopes is that I got very good at not spending every dollar, and sometimes I would save that money and use it for a special treat after I had saved for several months. Maybe that was not the intended part of the budget, but it was always nice to treat myself after working hard and staying way within my budget. I love the idea of going back to what I consider the basics of money and budgeting. I think I’ll see how I can incorporate this old plan into my now computerized budget.
This is a great idea for the family, savings for the future. I’m sure my wife and I will get along well in terms of saving money. Savings is such a very nice thing to do for the future use of my family.
Thanks! I am glad you liked the article!!