Mar 23 2009

To wishlist or not to wishlist.

category: decluttering, frugal

Recently I started keeping a wishlist of things I wanted to buy, however, not just now. It also helps with having a 'cooling down' period after I decide I want-want-want something, as advised by many personal finance blogs out there (in one form or the other). At first I thought it was silly, I'd remember the things, but after using it for a while I found it actually really helps.
Not only does this immediately stop me from impulse buying, it also helps me (eventually) buy more focussed. When I put an item on the list, I also put the price I found it for next to it, and where I saw it. Usually, I'll also add a photo to it. (I use Shopper on my iPhone, which I also use for my normal groceries).
By adding the price, I can keep my eye open for a special offer for the same product, or, when I decide I really want to buy it, I can do focussed research to find the product at the best price.

I did do research before, especially for needed items, but my wants sort of slipped past that research stage more quickly. By keeping this list I force myself to not only wait, I also make sure I do plenty of research (and then in the process drop the product all together).

I've also noticed it becomes easier to throw things of the list after a while, and this in turn leads to it getting easier to not want to put something on there to begin with. Don't want to waste my time with things I won't buy anyway :)
By seeing the silly stuff on my list, I feel less tempted by more silly stuff. And seeing the total amount doesn't hurt either!

I currently have 5 items on my list (I dropped some earlier):
1. Griffin Clarifi iPhone case
2. Neocube magnets
3. Sigg Thermo Mug
4. Portable foldable water-drinking reservoir for the dog
5. A 5×5x5 Rubik's Cube

All wants, I don't need any of them really. They're just so much fun! ;)

tags: finance, list, wishlist

Dec 17 2008

Financial programs for the mac.

category: geekery

1 Comment

Many people have written about this before, and many more will follow. What can I say, I couldn't help myself.

I like staying on top of my finances, it reduces stress and makes life in general a lot easier. I won't go into the psychological reasons why people get into debt and how to use psychology or blackmail to get yourself out. I merely want to give my thoughts on some of the software for macs out there.

I always look for the best software to fit my needs. I like computers and I feel they should make my life easier. Software can actually do that (and also make us hate it so much we want to drag it outside and beat it to a pulp).

I've tried several financial programs for my personal finance:

iBank (OS X, Full version $59.99)
Moneydance (OS X, Windows, Linux, $39.99)
GnuCash (OS X, Linux, open source, free)
MoneyWell (OS X, $49.99 / currently $39.99)

First a list of what I want in personal finance software:

Easy to use
Easy to set up
Easy to maintain
Easy to see at a glance how I did in a certain month
Budgetting

The software should also not crash and lot eat up my data. Saving my data in some type of file that I can access outside the program scores a lot of extra points. Exporting to .qif or a similar common format sounds good to me as well.

More points get acquired if the program works well on a smaller screen and older mac. I have a iBook G4, a bit of an oldie now, which still works pretty well, but I don't need some fancy new software that only runs on an Intel with 3gb of ram. Personal finance software should not push my mac to its limits.

Behind the cut I will describe my experiences with these four programs and wrap it up with a winner.

I will do the following actions to judge the program: