At the end of each month my family's main account would come up short so we would have to dig into our savings to compensate for pending bill payments. Part of that I contribute to the crappy online banking service and part of that our finance management. With a new baby sometimes you fail to regain conscienceness in other areas of your life until your are faced with bumpy roads you don't want to have to go through again.

Hence, I decided to search for solutions online via advice or downloads for a Budget manager, and that was when I came across the

Pear Budget Excel Spreadsheet. It is FREE, No Limitations and so easy to use! It comes with detailed step-by-step instructions so even if you've never used Excel before it will be hard to mess this one up! Unless of course you can't follow instructions.

I suggest that before you attempt to add your list of expenses, you sit down and go over your bank statements and figure out how much you want to budget on groceries, dining out, gifts, etc..



My Budget:
Groceries: $350
Baby: $150
Dining Out: $50
Gas: $70
Gifts: $50
Lunch Money: $50
Household:$100
Entertainment: $30
Miscellaneous: $100
Total:$950

Our Money Makeover 1. Try to contribute as much as possible to 401K while staying on top of paying off debt
2. Pay Down Debt with Accelerated Debt Plan within 22 months
3. Open a College Savings Plan for Ari
4. Find alternate sources of income
5. Look into stocks, bonds, and mutual funds