living
YO U R F IN A N C E S
t ’s e a s y to u n d e r s ta n d w h y p e o p le a re fe e lin g
a b it jitte r y r ig h t n o w . E v e ry w h e re y o u lo o k ,
b a d n e w s a b o u n d s —in th e h o u s in g m a rk e t,
th e jo b m a rk e t, a n d c e r ta in ly in th e s u p e r -
m a rk e t, w h e r e c o s ts s e e m to b e ris in g a s fa s t
___ ^ _ _ a s b re a d d o u g h .
M o s t o f u s fe e l p o o r e r to d a y th a n w e d id a
y e a r ago. T k n o w T do. M y h o u s e h a s p ro b a b ly s lip p e d 5 to
10 p e r c e n t in v a lu e in th e p a s t 18 m o n th s . M y r e tir e m e n t
p o rtf o lio lo o k s a s if i t ’s b e e n a tte n d in g W e ig h t W a tc h e rs .
T h e o n ly w a y to fe e l w o rs e is to fill u p m y g a s ta n k .
W h a t’s a g o o d c o n s u m e r to d o ? I ’d lik e to ta k e a
c r e d it c a r d a n d g o o n a th e r a p e u tic j a u n t to N o rd s tro m ,
b u t I re a liz e t h a t ’s n o t g o in g to h e lp —a n d it c o u ld g e t m e
in to re a l tro u b le . O p e n in g y o u r w a lle t r ig h t n o w is a b it
lik e th r o w in g u p th e w in d o w s a s h e s w h e n s to r m
c lo u d s a re g a th e r in g . In s te a d , if I m a k e th e r ig h t m o v e s, I
k n o w I c a n s a fe ly rid e o u t th is te m p e s tu o u s e c o n o m y —
a n d y o u c a n to o . I t all c o n ie s d o w n to p u ttin g y o u r
d a ily s p e n d in g o n a d ie t a n d fa tte n in g u p y o u r e m e rg e n c y
sa v in g s. T h e r e ’s n o s u g a r -c o a tin g it: S a v in g m o re
w h e n th e b a s ic n e c e s s itie s c o s t m o re ta k e s d is c ip lin e d
m o n e y m a n a g e m e n t.
EVERYD A Y M O N EY
with
K a r e n C h e n e y
• /
Recession-Proof
Your Life
W h e n f i n a n c i a l t i m e s a r e
t o u g h , d o n ’t j u s t t h r o w in
t h e t o w e l . S t i c k t o y o u r
m o n e y g o a l s a n d r i d e o u t
t h e b u m p y e c o n o m y .
BYKAREN CHENEY
PHOTOS HELEN NORMAN
W E B T O O L S :
T R A C K YO U R C A SH
Software programs like Quicken and Microsoft
Money can make it easier to keep tabs on your
money, but you don't have to buy a pricey
software program to scrutinize your spending.
A slew of personal finance Web sites—
including
m in t.c o m , w e s a b e .c o m ,
and
y o d le e
.c o m
—will do it for you for free.
Link your bank accounts, credit cards,
investment accounts, and loans into any of
these sites' secure and anonymous systems.
Then at the click of a button you can see
your net worth and analyze your spending
by category.
Prefer the old pencil and paper method?
Brokerage firm Charles Schwab has a wallet-
sized “spending tracker" you can download
and print for free. (Go to
s c h w a b m o n e y w is e
.c o m
and click on “Activities and Tools.") It's
less sophisticated, but it still gets the job done.
I 6 4 OCTOBER 2008 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
