Budgeting may not be very high-tech, but how else are you supposed to get stuff without going into debt. I will just say that it is best to have a well thought-out plan.
I love spreadsheets and for years, projected bills and tracked spending, but I never really planned my spending. So until recent years we lived month-to month. Then, several years ago my friend let me borrow his Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover CDs and after several months, I finally decided to see what he had to say. It boils down to this: get out of debt and stay out. His techniques, including the debt snowball, are more psychological than financial/mathematical, but it makes sense, because people act on emotions more so than calculations (in my opinion). Dave covers the many reasons for eliminating debt and has a systematic approach for doing it. I won’t go into any more detail here, but you can check out Dave’s 7 baby steps on his website.
Dave Ramsey also offers a free daily podcast which is a 40 minute condensed version of his 3-hour daytime talk-radio show. I download it every morning and listen to it in the car to and from work. Most of the show is Dave taking calls from ordinary people with questions on money advice, stories of both what not to do, and success stories of people who have done it right.
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