I've been dealing with paper clutter lately and now realize that it's a good time to look at the finances. Thankfully FlyLady has a Control Journal for FACEing your finances. For anyone who needs it here is the link to the FACE (Financial Awareness Continually Empowers) Control Journal.

I've gone through the FACE CJ before but I wasn't at a point then where I could implement many of the suggestions. I feel ready now. What I like about the FACE CJ is that it makes finances, usually a drugery for me, fun. And it's easy to follow too. There are Missions to do and simple worksheets to fill out along with some reading.

Of course, being a SHE, I had to look through the entire document before I could go back and work on the 1st mission. I'm going to tackle this just like I would any FlyLady project - 15 minutes at a time.

The reason I need to FACE my finances is that I am terrible about keeping a check register. I haven't kept a proper checkbook for years. I just 'knew' that the money was in there (big mistake ) and never balanced the checkbook. I did get NSF notices a time or two. I had good intentions, but I just couldn't work within a system. But now I think that FlyLady has given me hope that I can indeed have a system for finances and that it will effect more than just the finances.

I wondered about starting the FACE CJ right now when I still feel like I have trouble with my daily routines but it's a necessity for me. I need to know how much money I have in my bank account. I have no idea right now what my balance is - that's scary . I know that with FlyLady's help I can get the finances whipped into shape too.

Since it's kind of critical for me to FACE my finances, I'm going to do 2-3 Missions per day, throughout the day (unless it doesn't make sense to do that). I'll set my timer and give reading 15 minutes and missions 15 minutes each. I hope I'm not taking on too much. I think it will work seemlessly though with what I am already doing in the FLYlifestyle.

If you have any advice, suggestions, tips or tricks for dealing with your finances, I'd love to hear them.

p.s. If I've misstated anything, please let me know

My advice is to NOT listen to a word I say. I am horrid at finances. Does the FACE stuff look like it would be a good read for a self employed person with a spuratic income or is it a budgeting thing based on regular paychecks?

Enjoy the FACE journal.

You can also learn a lot from this website: http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com/
They have a free newsletter.

Also, the place I have learned the most about money is from Dave Ramsey. Go download iTunes if you haven't already (www.itunes.com). Then open the "store" and search for "Dave Ramsey". The TOP result will be a free podcast to which you can choose to "subscribe". Each weekday, and hour of his radio show will be downloaded to your itunes for FREE. Listen to even 15 minutes a day and you'll absorb a lot.

He's a lot more conservative than I am. i mean, I live in CA, have a large mortgage, etc. Thanks to listening to him, though, I ONLY have the mortgage. I haven't cut up my credit cards, but for the first time in my life I have a zero balance.

We deal almost exclusively in cash for our groceries and clothing. Man, when I've only got $80 cash on me at the store, I REALLY pay a lot more attention.

Oh, and the balancing the checkbook after an infinity without it? Uh, yeah. I tried to do that, too. My best advice to you is to open a new checking account and begin to use that one with your next paycheck. Then, keep the existing one open until you're sure everything has cleared. It is so much easier just to start over!

I'll look up the cheapskate site today. I'll also check into the Ramsey podcasts. Great ideas.

I know that I need to deal with cash too because my debit card is "NEVER" empty (as opposed to the actual account ).

I'm kind of embarassed to say that I just opened this account about a month ago, with that thought it mind (to just start over). I think that if I use cash and don't have all the debit card receipts then I won't have so much trouble. There are just too many receipts at this point. I'm going to have to sort of start over because I'm not going to go back and enter all the old receipts. I'm sure the FACE manual will help me out.

I took time today and balanced the checkbook and paid the unpaid bills.

Reading the CJ made me think a lot about my attitude toward finances. I need to realize that I don't have an endless supply of money (would be nice tho' ).

I know where I'm at now and that's a good feeling.

Paying your bills on time... DOES make a big difference in your credit rating too. Since really buckling down (and paying off several of DH's bills -- sigh) I noticed Im being offered (but not taking) new creditcard applications and the rates are getting lower sn dlower, which means, that my credit rating is going up up up...

Now that I have online bill pay, I'm getting the bills paid on time. When I had to write out a check, address an envelope, find the stamps, go to the post office, etc. I procrastinated. Now it's fun to pay the bills.

I really need to get that down... I do have a place to put bills.. and i should be doing it once a week, but i forget it a lot and sometimes i have 2/3 reminders with extra costs before i actually get to it. Any ideas on how to really remember??

well, I am the worst one to advice on that, because I always forget, but everything is on time since I asked everyone to "pick" the money from my bank account. Everything is scheduled down there, they just take the money when they send the bill. even taxes are in the bank, so the only thing I have to do is check every forthnight if all the charges are correct. I still have 15 days to send it back if there is an error (it never has been an error). I do al the checking online. I also have all the mail from the bank online, so I don't have to file it. If I need a receipt or an invoice, I go online and print it out. It worked for me.

By the way, this is quite common in Spain. 95% of the people have their bills sent to the bank

I'm very good at managing money. Since I lived below poverty level for so many years, I couldn't afford any late charges, so I made sure things were paid on time. Also, I refuse to pay interest, except for our mortgage, so we pay credit cards in full each month.

When bills come in, I write the due date on the left end of the envelope and file them standing up in a desk organizer (HA!!!) amid the clutter on our computer desk. Each time I sit down at the computer, those bills are right there beside me with the dates showing, so on desk day I pull out the ones that will be due within the next 10 days, and pay them.

My DH does not trust the security of our computer and will not do online banking, so we both continue to use my system described above. OR, you can just write a check and mail it when the bill arrives, then you don't have to worry about when it is due and whether you are late. (and less desk clutter)

And here I thought *I* was the one that wrote the balance due and due date on the envelopes (threw away the rest) and put it in a holder on top of the frig. I put them in order of payment. So on a payday - I flip thru the dates, and grab them and put them in my purse. Since Friday is purse clean-out day --- I take the bills out and pay them at lunch.

My desk is getting messy -- too many baskets full of stuff.... sigh

Rhonda

Tomorrow is desk day for me. I've somehow, in less than a week, messed up with my checking account again. I have no idea what I've done. Tomorrow I'll figure it out. I dread doing it because I know I've made a mistake somewhere. I know it's better to know what's going on with the finances than to stick my head in the sand.

Yes, balance your checkbook, Sam ~ you CAN do it!

Then you can make a feather duster out of that ostrich....

Thankfully I already have both dusters, so that poor Ostrich is safe for now. Thanks for the encouragement though!

I did go over the checkbook, but I wouldn't exactly say it balanced. I showed a lot more money in the account than the bank did, so I've got to trust the bank. I messed up somewhere, I just can't figure it out since I wasn't keeping track very well. But I did all that I could and now I feel better knowing where things stand. I've been checking the account daily to make sure I haven't missed anything. Why am I so apprehensive about doing that? The dread that I feel about looking at the account is overwhelming at points. I really have to force myself to peek. I would guess that I would get better at doing this over time.

But props to me for getting it done!

I got some ideas on how to keep the financial paper clutter down on this thread. Keeping the clutter down will help me to FACE the finances without such dread.

Today I got an accurate balance for the checking account and I'm going to start all over with that. I only have 1 item outstanding and I've got that recorded in my financial journal.

I've also updated my Excel spreadsheet that shows debts, bills, balances and income. That helps me plan my budget more realistically. Heidi reminded me that I need to add non-regular expenses (like vet bills, auto tag renewals, etc.). I'm in the process of doing that.

It feels good (once again ) to know where I am financially.

ps: I'll probably write this same thing every week.