One of the first things you will hear from anyone who is helping you with your finances is about budgeting. A budget is usually the difference between someone who has their finances under control and someone who doesn’t. The problem is that budgeting is often on the to-do list right up there with “going to the dentist” and “cleaning the toilet.” You know you should do those things but really don’t want to.

If you are like me and hate budgeting, I’ve got a stupid-proof easy way to do your budget. After getting setup, it requires about 10 minutes or less per week to maintain and will help you develop a fully functional budget.

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Budgeting isn’t fun. Very few people look forward to tracking all of their purchases, cutting back when they’ve overspent, and adjusting their budget from month to month to meet changing conditions. However, it’s a necessary chore, like cleaning your house or apartment, that you should do because it’s good for your financial health. But so is exercising and according to the Department of Health & Human Services, we as a nation aren’t doing such a great job at that.

When I first started working, I was a very diligent budgeter. I recorded every single expense in a document called a Budget Bible, built from a template my friend Melinda sent me. I budgeted to the penny, the most labor intensive of the five budgeting systems I once wrote about. I kept it up for about six months but eventually I grew tired of it. It was important to budget to get a better handle on my finances, but once I had a handle the daily routine was unnecessary. I went from the most diligent of budgeters to a non-budgeter!

So how do I get back on the wagon? How does a personal finance blogger reform?

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What if I told you that delayed gratification was the most important factors of success?

I bet you’d probably believe that it was plausible, but probably not likely. There’s probably something else in the mix right?

Well, while that may be true, Joachim de Posada, in this six minute TED talk, explains how delayed gratification was a good predictor of future success.

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Here’s a little video discussing the ins and outs of envelope budgeting, how it’s done (at a basic level), why you might want to consider it, and my thoughts on its effectiveness. I’m by no means an expert on envelope budgeting, but I do understand the basics, so I invite those of you who do use this on a regular basis to chime in with your thoughts!

Today marks the day that Zhao Danyang, winner of the 2008 Warren Buffett charity lunch, will be dining with the Oracle of Omaha at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse. Zhao Danyang, who runs the Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund in Hong Kong donated a whopping $2.11 million to the Glide Foundation for the opportunity to invite seven of his closest friends to join him and Warren Buffet.

Buffett has been doing these charity auctions for several years and it wasn’t until 2003 did the auctions move online. The proceeds benefit the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco non-profit that offers housing, job training, health and child care, and meals for the poor. In addition to the winner’s donation, Smith & Wollensky also donates $10,000 to the charity as well.

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Please join us Monday night (6PM Eastern, 3PM Pacific) on the Personal Finance Hour as JD and I discuss your credit history and credit score with none other than Liz Pulliam Weston! Liz Weston is the most-read personal finance columnist on the Internet according to Nielsen/Netratings and has written several credit and debt related books, so we’re very happy to have her on the program. We’ll talk about everything from the importance of checking your history to the various components that make up your credit score.

At 6PM Eastern, 3PM Pacific, the show will be broadcast online at this page (there’s also a chat room on that page where lots of listeners chat with one another, I’ve heard it’s a fun time!). You can also listen to the show on your telephone by calling calling (347) 327-9144. If you want to get on the air, hit “1″ and we’ll get the notification and get you try to get to you as soon as we can.

If you would like to ask a question, you have three options. First, you can leave it as a comment here and I’ll try to ask Liz during the program. Or, you can call in to get on the air or leave the question in the show’s chat room. We hope you join us with this great opportunity to chat with Liz!

Thanks!

Bankrate recently looked at what $400,000 can buy today in the real estate market. I poked around, checking out a 3 bedroom, 2/5 bath 1,730 sq. ft. home in San Diego, CA, that seemed to be directly on top of the home next door, and a monster of a brand-spanking new home in Houston, TX that had nearly 2,500 square feet.

But I didn’t think that was realistic. Doesn’t Bankrate know we’re in a recession!? I wanted to know what $10,000 can get you.

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Welcome back Marketplace Money listeners! I once again had the great pleasure of joining fellow personal finance bloggers Lynnae of BeingFrugal.net and Steve of Brip Blap for a chat with host Tess Vigeland of Marketplace Money, one of my favorite personal finance radio shows (yes, waaaaay before I was ever blogging).

Download The Podcast

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can download the June 12th, 2009 Marketplace Money program right now and take a listen (our segment starts at 20:57 if you’re short on time). Here’s a transcript of our chat.

Welcome Marketplace Money Listeners!

Please allow me to be the first to welcome you to our corner of the personal finance blogosphere.

I’ve been a personal finance blogger for about four years, the last year and a half of which have been full-time, and I write about anything and everything dealing with my money. You can read more about me on the About page.

Some of the more popular sections of the site include a Devil’s Advocate series where I argue against conventional wisdom, just to get the other side’s perspective, as well as the numerous financial product reviews I do, which includes financial products, books, and other widgets.

 If you enjoy what you see, please consider subscribing to receive free updates of the site. You can do so with your favorite RSS reader or get posts piped directly to your email each day by filling out the form below. I update at least twice daily (you’ll only get one email a day) and I don’t use the email for anything other than to send out these updates.

Also, if you’re interested in getting a once weekly newsletter that includes the latest news and anything interesting I find during the week (here’s the full list of benefits), you can sign up here:

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Finally, if you ever want to reach me, you can email me at the address in the upper right or use this handy contact form.

Thanks for reading!

This latest Bargaineering.com video features some intro music (yay! probably won’t keep it for too long but I wanted to experiment a little with it) and a discussion on net worth. I briefly discuss how I calculate our net worth, how often we track it, and the true value in doing the exercise. As you probably expected, based on the title, the value isn’t in the number you get.

Please let me know what you think! (especially about the music and if you have any alternatives, podcast safe please, you think would work well)

If you talked to me three or four years ago and asked me about my approach to personal finance, I would’ve told you that you should always pick the mathematically optimal path and try to adhere to it as much as possible. I was fortunate enough to have the discipline, a credit to my parents, to almost always be able to follow what I believed was the optimal path. I didn’t have any credit card debt, I contributed as much as I could to my Roth IRA and my 401(k)’s, and I worked hard at my job.

However, in the last few years, I’ve come to recognize that it isn’t the path that you take that’s important, but how quickly you can achieve your goals. The fastest way for you to reach your goals may not come from going the best way. When climbing a mountain, a seasoned climber can scale rock faces while the novice sticks to the paths. The optimal path is by climbing the rocky walls, but a novice might make it up a few handholds before they gave up.

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