I'm an intelligent guy but one of my big black spots is financial management. I can tell other people how the stock market works and how crazy credit card debt is....... but my own finances have always been direly managed. No matter what I do I just can't do money.

Luckily the regular demise of wealthy spinster aunts has given me a cushion over the years but now they have all passed on the fact that I have never bothered about fiscal control is becoming obvious.

How do you manage to deal with the accountancy side of family life which seems so ADD unfriendly?

I have a spouse that brought debt to her when we got married 5 years ago.
She's got it down to $21,000.
That's down from $50,000, which is good.
One of us has to keep good credit! LOL
Actually my accounting gift comes from the fact that I don't want debt.
I was brought up to think that being in debt was bad, almost sinful.
So I keep up with my CC charges, I put off buying things I need until the following month, if my CC is higher than I want, etc.
I also make good financial choices.
My house was bought at $40,000 below market value.
When I sell it in a few years, I will get at least $40,000 coming back to me.
My car is 5 months old, and I got it because it was going to be $73 more per month than my current 3yr old car. Insurance was $30 more every 6mos.
I couldn't pass that up, because I got a new car, with more stuff, and another 3yrs of warranty, for $73 more a month.
I could have kept that Subaru, but I would have ended up with a 5yr old car in another year, with no warranty.
Now I have 3yrs left on a new car.
It's not easy with ADD, and I often sit down and see how much we have going out as opposed to going in.
Right now we have a small savings, because I am cutting things out.
I found out today we basically spend $41,000 a year on bills (and my wife's debt), and we have $41,000 coming in. :rolleyes:
So cutting things out is a must.
Make a list Kilted.
See what you spend money on, and how much of that you REALLY need to buy.
What can be put off if your CC is higher than you would like?
It's time consuming, but well worth the effort.
Sorry for the long post...

Is money that small papery looking stuff that goes in the folding black thing in my back pocket? I don't have any of that stuff. But I have a CC. That can't be good.

I'm a shocker with money - always have been and always will be.

Honestly my husband does ALL of the finances. I am soo not capable. He can take the smallest wages an make a great life out of it. If I were doing it the cars would have been reposessed already and the lights would be turned off every month because I would forget to pay the bill or not on time. This kinda thing requires a lot of organization skills, patience, and timeliness that we ADDers sometimes lack. For me anyway.:o I am not saying it can't be done we just have to work harder at making sure it is done right.
He puts all of our money on an Exel spreadsheet and has it go month by month,year by year. If our wages stay the same he has our finances planned for the next 5 years at least. It adds everything up in catagories and even tells us how much we are up or down each month. Again I don't know how he does it(he is SO non ADD) He even pays all of our bills a month ahead of time.We make an average living, nothing special, but he has found ways to have a savings account, a vacation fund, and open a Roth retirement fund(he is only 27 btw). I think I got on meds just so I could figure out how he does it all. lol.:rolleyes: But I think having a computer program may help you out. Sorry my post was long too.

As much as I do, I can't do what your husband does.
Want to loan him out?
We will take him to Corky's, and take him to Graceland, after the spreadsheet is set up of course. :D

I am lucky I know I would be in the poor house without him. He does however make some poor descisions in the casino, so he isn't perfect in every aspect of handling money.....or maybe it is just with little clay chips.:) lol.

Thanks for your replies..its something I'm going to have to discuss with my partner.

A long while ago I wrote an accounting program that did my accounts, that was great fun, but the bit where i had to put the data in every month wasn't so hot..I feel physically ill when the bank statement arrives...women have their time of the month...so do I.. :-)

My husband doesn't have the time to do the finances so I am forced to do it. I suck at it and I screw up a lot but it's not the end of the world. It helped me a lot to set up all my bills through my bank and pay them online. No more stamps or checks! I set up what bills I could where I don't have to do anything, it just comes directly out of my checking account (light bill, phone bill, water). My biggest challenge has been my credit card bills. They are all due on different dates and even though I just have to log on one site to pay them all I still forget so I'm in the process of setting it up for the min payment to come out automatic and then what ever else I want to pay on it I will have to log on and send it. That way no late fee's anymore.

when I first moved out on my own i somehow forgot to pay my electtric bill for about 6 months....oddly enough it never got turned off...anyway when i finally went it to pay it i put it on auto pay...I have all my "bills" on auto pay, and the only ones i have to actullly think about are my rent, which I remeber to pay when they come every 5th of the month to remind me it has to be paid today, and that in turn reminds me to pay my CC which I had payment moved to the 8th of the month.
I still have some CC debt right now but less then 1000, but thats cause of school.
I also have my fiance helping me, he helps keep some of my impulse buying to a minimum, and helps with payments sometimes cause my job isnt a steady 40hour a week job...so some months im short.
OH I also have all my checks on auto deposit...other wise they would all be sitting in my car or lost or somthing...You can never remember where that "safe" spot was, untill a year later it seems...::confused:

Casinowife, I must have skipped your post, I just notied you said the same thing I just said, but more clear...:o