I’m sorry to hear that there won’t be another planner; I didn’t find out about this one until June, so I was waiting to buy one until 2010. Have you thought about a self-published downloadable planner? People could pay to download and then either work with it on-screen or print out a paper copy, and you could control when it was available — but I know that your publishing contract might thwart that idea even if you liked it.

Thank you so much for the show and for this blog — your ideas are so helpful!

I’m still in a bit of debt, but I’ve been able to get my own apartment, fully furnish it, and much more. (aka all the things I neglected when I was a student) I feel like my life is finally together again and there’s only one more step – getting rid of the credit cards!

We were quite miserable but survived because we were desperate. We got caught up in the fear and then the frenzy to get it ALL paid off as quickly as possible. Exhausting. Eventually our lives became stabilized so we started paying about 25% towards debt (still too much) so we still failed at budgeting and saving still didn’t have a real time plan – just the idea to be debt free as soon as possible. Of course in the beginning we didn’t know about Gail and what was possible so thought that possible meant until it got done.

If I had to do it over again I would stick with Gail’s budget chart of percentages. By allowing 35% for housing, 15% for transportation, 25% for life, 10% for savings and 15% for debt repayment you get the job done but also get to live and save. This is very important because the most important thing is not to add any more to your debt. If your budget is too tight you will just end up making more debt sooner or later – unexpected increase in daily expenses or an emergency. Of course the 15% debt repayment is just the planned monthly repayment. You can always earn more to pay more – which should be part of any debt repayment plan anyways.

As soon as I learned about Gail we started following her budget percentages. She wants every one to be out of debt in a maximum of 3 years which is ideal. In our case to be out of debt in 3 years using the 15% debt repayment plan would have left us with about $1.95 to live on. Using a 5 to 6 year plan gave us wiggle room to live and save. Not ideal at all when you add up the interest but at least a plan. In the end we did pay off our debts in approximately 3 years but we had to earn a lot of extras to boost the 15% monthly payment.

i was thinking you could do a perpetual calendar. one that doesn’t have the year or the days of the week, simple july 7, july 8, july 9, etc. that way if people bought it in may they could use right through to next april, y’know? & perhaps the most frugal of us (hahaha) could reuse the calendar year after year.

And in 53 days I will still come back to this website because I don’t want to go backwards and Gail’s advice will still be as relevant to me. Thanks Gail.

If you have a working budget, you will not be strapped for cash and needing the credit card to fill in the gaps… that’s what got us in the mess to begin with.

That’s a good point. Many times, I’ve seen people classify things that are really “wants” into “needs” simply beacsue they think that “everyone else has it” and secretly feel that their friends would abandon them and they’d be social outcasts if they didn’t have it.

“It” can be anything: a new car, a big house, that jacket everyone else has. It can also be intangible: your cell phone plan, your cable costs, or your gym membership. None of these are “needs,” yet it’s amazing how many people will balk at the sugestion to cut them out.

Case in point: Replace the word “cable” in the Gail’s quote with “Internet.” Would you die without internet access at home? No. A want.

Now, when I’m tempted to blow my budget, I can tell myself “well, my son still has that sweatshirt at home that will last him the rest of the month…maybe when I come back next month–when clothes are in the budget–this one will be on sale anyway.” I have that date in mind (the first of the next month), so it’s a more concrete goal than just “I can’t spend money on that.” And if there’s an article of clothing I feel I desperately need now, I take the money out of my “allowance” to get it (and it’s still kindof a treat).

*shrug* Maybe I’m weird…but it works for me.

Rachel – unfortunately, I can’t give out much information since I know they’re not hiring anymore, but basically I twitter to get interest for a website. I found that job on craigslist under gigs. There are occasionally part-time online jobs that pop up there. Good luck!

The part of the budget that made it not work for me in the past, and give up on it, was that it was unrealistic. I thought that if I budgeted $0 for clothes and entertainment, then I would make sure that I didn’t spend any money on them. HAH! That’s not how budgets work. You have to track the spending on a regular basis and see what you’re ACTUALLY spending on those categories and change your budget accordingly. As long as it balances and YOU DON’T SPEND MORE THAN YOU MAKE, you’ll be fine.