I just keep a small notebook (like 4 inches by three inches) and whenever I spend money I write it down in the front section: date, amt, cash credit or whatever, and category/notes. I divide about ten facing pages into columns for that.

At the end of the week I tally up the totals by category and subtract them from my budget, which I keep in the back of the notebook. I then put check marks next to the transactions I have tallied, and I update the available to spend amounts for everything (figures in the budget are in pencil so I can erase/edit them as the month goes by).

It seriously doesn’t take more than about 10 minutes sitting with a cup of tea and this way I always have my budget with me.

I have a separate page where I tally up all my income for the month, and, YNAB-style, I use September’s income as the basis for October’s budget so I’m always budgeting the money I’ve already earned and deposited, so I can rely on that income figure as a solid figure that won’t change and is already in the bank.

the notebook, small calculator, my cash and credit cards and driver’s license, , and any coupons and receipts are all in a mini-accordion file organizer that I keep in my duffel bag that I normally carry, so it’s all ready and in one place when I’m shopping.

Sierra

Sierra

YNAB is now updated and available for Mac and Linux as well as Windows so you Mac people can give it a try. You'll be hooked. They have a free 7 day trial, then it's $59.95. Which in many people's experience is an expense that will easily pay for itself within the month you spend it.

Peabudget.com costs $3 per month ongoing and is very similar in concept and interface to YNAB.

I got MYOB FirstEdge for tracking my business stuff and that's in the same price range as Quicken Home. Again, this is one of things that seems to me to be worth throwing a bit of money at.

Also, with our last set of tenants we used to get a lot of rent cheques trickling in all the time, and after a couple of years of dealing with that pain we signed up for Rentometer, a service that lets our renters send their cheques (or online bill pay or even credit cards) to a different address and they take care of all the depositing and sending reminders if they're late. Rentometer is specifically targeted for property management, but you might find an online service that works well for you. Mint is trying to get into that space ( http://getsatisfaction.com/mint/topics/mint_for… )

I got MYOB FirstEdge for tracking my business stuff and that's in the same price range as Quicken Home. Again, this is one of things that seems to me to be worth throwing a bit of money at.

Also, with our last set of tenants we used to get a lot of rent cheques trickling in all the time, and after a couple of years of dealing with that pain we signed up for Rentometer, a service that lets our renters send their cheques (or online bill pay or even credit cards) to a different address and they take care of all the depositing and sending reminders if they're late. Rentometer is specifically targeted for property management, but you might find an online service that works well for you. Mint is trying to get into that space ( http://getsatisfaction.com/mint/topics/mint_for… )