Journaling to Remind Me

[Nessie]

The money thing was a huge issue for me, especially with the dramatic change in circumstances of marriage separation and H not able to provide much $$ assistance at the start.

I have used Money and Quicken in the past, but have found the easiest and simplest way to manage my budget is in a spreadsheet.

On the left hand side at the top I list my income and have a column for the budget amount and another column for what came in this week. Underneath that I have a section with my bank accounts and their available balances.

On the right hand side at the top I list all my expenses, again with a budget column and current week column. The next section underneath lists upcoming expenses I need to be aware of. And the bottom section lists all my debts or liabilities with a column for total owing and another column for any arrears.

This is what works for me, and I found that I originally started with approximately $12,000 debt and am now down to less than $10,000. I can send you a copy of it if you wanted to adapt it to your situation.

And I agree about GAL. Keep doing what makes you happy. Your happiness is within you, not dependent onw aht your H does.