Budgeting Made Easy- a Product Review

My entire adult life has been a financial roller coaster.  We made poor choices, impulse purchases and had many children very close together causing even more strain on our middle class income.  I have read many  finance books from all the "experts", The Automatic Millionaire, Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman. We had an extensive Excel spreadsheet listing out all out expenses, our income, what bills still need to be paid.  I feel that I had the book smarts for what it would take to get out of and stay out of debt.  For some reason, it just never panned out in real life and we were unable to put the information and tools together into a realistic working budget.

I felt something was missing.  I love Dave Ramsey's guides and advice about getting out of debt.  It is so practical, makes perfect sense and we used it for a while to eliminate some past debt.  However now we don't have much debt, just some small accounts and the house that we are using to rebuild our credit.  Last year we began doing other things on a larger scale, like putting more into retirement, and paying ourselves first by investing some.  Yet every month the money seemed to run out, things would be tight and when you looked at the situation it never made sense. 

I had finally had enough and went out on a search for the tool we needed to keep us in check and I feel I got very lucky when I was reading a blog in my list and they mentioned using Pear Budget, an online budgeting tool that allowed you to track your income and expenses and create a budget that worked.  I thought it sounded great and pitched the idea to my husband.   A skeptic at heart, he wanted to know more so I looked at reviews and read as much as I could so I could inform him of the specifics. I realized the weakness in the great spreadsheet we had before was there was no way to see if we were staying within that budget.  It showed how much we should budget for a certain category but after that there was nothing to keep us accountable.  We needed something that would show us what we planned and how much we actually spent so we could see where all the extra money was going.

What sold me on trying it was the free trial.  Now I know what you are thinking.. there's a hitch.  Well actually there wasn't one with this.  The 30-day trial allows you to set up a budget, create a plan, enter receipts, and compare your spending to your budget, with absolutely no commitment.  I didn't have to enter my name, my credit card info or anything.  I just had to create a username and password and if I decided to keep using the service, it would be $4.95 a month.  At first I thought.. why would I pay for a tool to help me save money? It seems counter-productive.  I have to honestly tell you that this program is worth every single penny of the fee which is equal to one spendy gourmet coffee.  As soon as my trial is up I am signing up for the full meal deal.  

In the one month that we have been using it, we have been able to see where we are overspending in the budget, I have been able to adjust it according to what may be going on in any particular month.  I have never felt more in control of my finances than I do right now.  We were stumbling along blindly before, wondering where all the money went, what on earth did we spend it on?  With Pear Budget it is so simple.

Here are a few things I love about it:

- a REAL free trial with no CC information to be shared until you sign up

-great online support

-100% customizable

-ease of use

-I can use the information in the spending to adjust the budget to be more realistic

-Its working!

Here is my disclaimer: I am in NO WAY affiliated with Pear Budget or the creators of it.  I just think it is a fantastic tool that will hopefully help others finally understand their finances.

We fully intend on keeping this program for a very long time.  It is apparent that the creators were passionate about creating a tool that was efficient and productive and had the users in mind when creating it. I expect this to be the best financial year in our history as a family.  I feel in control, and that is something I have never felt before.  So please head on over and check it out.  If you feel you want to continue using it please use my email address (jessicadaley7795@gmail.com) as a reference, I may just earn a $5 credit if you sign up.  We all work so hard for our money and should be in control of it, so if you are feeling a little bit confused or overwhelmed then please go check it out.