Taking The Stress Out Of Daily Finance Tracking

As a Chartered Accountant, I'm pretty good with numbers. I kind of have to be in my line of work.

My knowledge of numbers flow into my personal life as well. I own a house (and a cabin at the ski hill), I have kids—who I put education money aside for and who seem to make me bleed money on a daily basis, we have two older vehicles that both decided to break down last month, and there are the daily costs of living that I deal with. Groceries, household bills, new jeans for the boy who always seems to blow holes in the knees.

I do a fairly decent job of budgeting and keeping track of everything, but some months it seems pretty overwhelming and some months I get behind and spend a lot of time playing catch-up. While my spreadsheets and accounting program do the job, I was pretty excited when I was asked if I wanted to try out the Life, By The Pie website and write about it from an accountant's point of view.

I watched the introduction video, which seemed like it was all about me!

You can see it here:

After watching it, I signed up to use the Life, By The Pie website. I also downloaded the Daily Dish app so that I could start entering my daily expenses instead of catching up one or twice a month.

There's something about that pile of paper that needs to be dealt with that's just so intimidating.

When I read the "recipe" for their pie, it also resonated with me. I needed more direction, as much as I'm embarrassed to admit it. I'm a professional, so I should have it all figured out. The thing is, I'm also a human being who can be whimsical in her spending choices.

I know that my own finances have not reflected my new reality of being self-employed, and of the reality of having a husband on a pastor's salary. When he was a lumber broker in a high market time, money wasn't something we thought about. When I worked in public practice, money wasn't something we worried about. 

We've scaled back a lot recently, but the tendency to buy what we "want" (as opposed to what we actually need) still rears its ugly head. We're keeping on top of our monthly bills, but sometimes it's to the wire. I needed this kick in the arse to track things as we go along instead of wincing when I opened bills to pay them. I tend to avoid stress at all costs, but finances are one where I avoid dealing with them. I then worry for weeks on end until I get caught up.

No more. It's time to be a grown-up.

The stress relief from tracking everything in real time is huge. HUGE. I knew it would be, and I'm happy for the nudge to do so.

If you want to take the stress out of managing your finances, you need to check out Life, By The Pie. There are a number of ways to learn how it works and start making it work for you.

There's also a book! It's called Life, By The Pie, written by co-founder & financial manager Michael Finkbeiner.

It's definitely worth it to check out, friends. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Also (please) feel free to let me know that I'm not the only one who makes financial blunders, because I'm sure I'm not alone!