Tracking Coupon Savings in Quicken

Nov
11th
2008

Filed Under Saving
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My wife is a coupon freak.  Each week we buy the Sunday paper and she can barely wait to pull the leaflets of coupons out and scan through them.  An hour each week is spent cutting and clipping, until we have a pile of coupons awaiting a trip to the local grocery store.  She even clips coupons for friends and relatives, and collects coupons from other folks who “don’t need to clip coupons” (aka lazy people, in my opinion).

After the trip to the store, my wife makes me guess how much she saved in coupons.  Some weeks it’s a LOT, other weeks it’s not as much, but I can usually estimate by the size of the smile on her face.  I typically congratulate and thank her for saving the family some money by being frugal with the groceries.

But it recently hit me that while she is saving our family money on items we would buy with or without the coupons, we are not actually saving any money (my fault, not hers).  The $10, $20, or $30 she may save just goes towards some other expenditure and we never “realize” the savings.  I can’t tell you (as evidenced above) exactly how much she has saved us over the years.

So, I’ve decided to create a new category in my Quicken file called “Coupon Savings”.  After each trip to the grocery store, I’ll take the receipt, note the amount saved with coupons, and transfer that amount from our checking account into our savings account at ING.  We’ll be “feeding” our savings account with the coupons savings while feeding the family.

It will take one additional transaction in Quicken, but I’ll then be able to track our coupon savings and boost the amount saved each year.

DK


A Christian Perspective on Money Management - Week 2

Nov
9th
2008

Filed Under Christian, Credit Cards, Saving
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The sermon series at Hope Pres about money management and financial peace continued this week.  Last week was a summary of sorts, and this week Craig started to delve into specific things you can/need to do in order to achieve “financial peace”.

While most of the suggestions are old news for me and my family, they do prompt some new ideas on ways to save, be more frugal, and manage money as a family.  Perhaps the most important thing that keeps coming up is the necessity of good communication within the family unit.  That’s something I probably don’t do as well as I should, but we’re working on it.

A nifty little tool developed by Dave Ramsey called The Gazelle Budget was showcased.  For those of you who do not have a budget, this is an easy way to get started.

The Cliff Notes from the sermon are as follows:

One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing… - Proverbs 13:7 (NIV)

From a Quicken perspective, this sermon seemed to be related to the Debt Reduction Planner and Budgeting tools provided in the software.  I plan to do a short post in the next couple of days about these two powerful tools.

DK


Savings Goals

Feb
15th
2008

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quicken_logo.jpgQuicken has a neat feature that helps (me) out with saving for bills that come due periodically or when I want to save for something specific (like a new camera lens). A ‘Savings Goal’ is a virtual account (internal to your Quicken program) that visualizes how much you’ve saved towards a specific item. Your cash is actually kept in any real account you’d like…the virtual Savings Goal account is simply linked to your checking, savings, etc account, and withdrawals/deposits are made to/from it like any other account.You can access the Savings Goal screen from the Planning menu in Quicken.

For example, I set up a Savings Goal for my yearly property taxes. I have a home equity loan (not a conventional mortgage), so I’m responsible for paying my property taxes each year instead of it being put into escrow by a mortgage company. To make sure I’m saving enough for it throughout the year, I make a monthly deposit to my ‘SG-Property Tax’ account. Then, when my taxes come due, I “withdraw” the money from my ‘SG-Property Tax’ account, write a check, and I’m done. I don’t have to worry about coming up a with a large amount of cash each year.

Quicken is even smart enough to tell you when you’re falling behind on your goals (if you like your computer yelling at you).

The only negative aspect of these virtual accounts is that you have to know which real account your money is in. When you reconcile the real account, the balance will be short by the amount you have in your Savings Goal account. While this doesn’t affect anything in the real world, it can be somewhat confusing and disconcerting when you look at your real account balance. I typically only use one real savings account to link to my Savings Goals, and I name the Savings Goal accounts so that they will be listed in the sidebar immediately after my real savings account. That makes it easier for me to see the whole picture.

Savings Goals are a neat, helpful tool if you have problems with money and “saving-self-control”. Set them up, automate the deposits, and you’ve got one less thing to worry about. They are also helpful for those big, fun purchases…it helps to know how far you have to go, and keeps your wallet in your pocket until you have the cash in-hand.

DK