[CS-FSLUG] Confessions of a Dumb Spreadsheet User

[David McGlone]

On Tue, 2011-04-12 at 21:17 -0500, Robert Wohlfarth wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 7:23 PM, David McGlone <david at dmcentral.net>
> wrote:
>         I'm contemplating not using a bank anymore because I know some
>         things
>         that banks try to hide.. The banks are also changing the way
>         they do
>         things to try and trip people up and rack up overdraft
>         charges. For
>         instance, my bank has quit processing online bill pay on the
>         weekends
>         until the following Monday, they have also quit taking debt
>         card
>         transactions out of your balance immediately and tries to hold
>         them
>         longer without showing them on their website. This is a tactic
>         to try
>         and cause overdrafts.
> 
> That was one reason I started doing the budget before the month
> starts. As long as expenses stay under budget, the bank doesn't win.
> The hardest part is tracking sinking funds (save a little each month
> for big, annual bills). GnuCash's double entry accounting gets in the
> way. 

I agree. What upsets me is the fact that the banks are starting to be
very insidious. In my book it is very unethical.

> 
> Cash still works best for stuff like food and gas. At least then we
> always know exactly how much is left. Makes it very easy to say
> "no" (or "yes") when the kids ask for ice cream.

I hardly ever have cash on me, but I suspect that will be changing soon.
> 
> As hard as it is, I love having a budget - telling the money where to
> go instead of wondering where it went.

Yes, budgets are very good. Especially when one has kids.