- - - -
 

                                                                 O N L I N E R - - M E M O - - - - -
 

TO:    Christians	FR: Jim Bramer, Retired CPA
RE:    Personal Finance Spending Controls via the QBuxBox System	ORIGINATED: September 2005

       This applies to any one who is so inclined, but my target is mostly Christian Young Adults , or those of you, married or unmarried, who spend almost as much time using the Internet as you do watching Television,
       My hope/prayer is that you can answer mostly Yes to the following as you use the Internet for such purposes.  This often follows a Righteous Personal Finance effort described within  4999.

	PERSONAL FINANCE ESSENTIALS	No	Partial	Yes
1	You set Life Style spending limits before
	you do any spending.	_____	_____	_____
2	You give a minimum of a tithe of your income
	to your home church.	_____	_____	_____
3	You know at least weekly how much you can
	spend by category	_____	_____	_____
4	And you carefully adhere to these spending
	limits.	_____	_____	_____
5	You set aside money for known or even
	unknown future non-monthly expenditures	_____	_____	_____
6	You make maximize use of contemporary spending
	control tools (especially those resources
	provided by the Internet)	_____	_____	_____
7	You minimize your cash transactions, since this
	is not conducive for accountability and safety.	_____	_____	_____
8	Or you do the bulk of your buying using checks
	and Plastic accounts (Retail Stores and
	Credit/Debit cards).   Goto 4040 for more info.	_____	_____	_____
9	An absolute --- all charge/plastic accounts are
	paid off interest free each month	_____	_____	_____
10	At least monthly, you verify that your financial
	records are in agreement with your bank and
	charge/plastic account records.	_____	_____	_____

        Our primary objective is to assist those of you that can identify with the following:

>> You have a life style where you have Not done well as to the 10 items above.
>> You have taken something like the Crown class and know you need to wisely spend money.
>> You spend a lot of time on the Internet
>> You are not very good at record keeping - Click Here for help!
>> You do the bulk of your spending via Checks and Credit Cards.   
>> Perhaps you have kids at home

          Here is how the eQBuxBox  SPENDING  CONTROL System works.

The QBuxBox SPENDING CONTROL System (5)

    A>  You obtain the software product known as QuickBooks Pro 2003 (QBPro2003) - or earlier versions.  You will notice that this is an older edition of this Intuit product -- it can be obtained as new by Clicking Here and go to  www.ebay.com  for probably less that $90.00.  If you use Quicken, you will need to use their "Liability" accounts where you use "Equity" accounts within QuickBooks as you establish your eQBuxBox System.  In both QuickBooks and Quicken you can use their "Class" feature to further identify and report as to types of Receipts and Disbursements, etc.
    B>  The software is structured so that you get a  WEEKLY  QBuxBox  SPENDING  CONTROL "point in time" status report that looks like the sample below.  Click Here for a sample activity/transaction report.

Side A -- Available Resources  (2)
	10- Bank Accounts		$3,862.60
	19-"BuyNowPayLater" Enabler - Click for more info		.00
		Total		$3,862.60
Side 1 -- Committed Financial Areas
	22-Plastic Payables			$1,541.71
	30-Spendable QBuxBox Balances
		31-For Church Donations	$ 300.00
		32-For Life Style Costs	$ 220.89
		33-Rent Payment due the 5th of month	$ 985.00	$1,505.89
	40-SetASide (or Escrowed)
		41-For Upcoming Events	$ 600.00
		49-For Discretionary Purposes	$ 215.00	$ 815.00
		Total		$3,862.60

    C>  You use at least weekly the Online Banking features of QBPro2003 and your Bank and Plastic Online accounts to mirror such transactions with information within  QBPro2003  and the eQBuxBox system.  See the $2,262.60 and the $1,541.71 above.
    D>  Of course, when these receipts and payment transactions go into the eQBuxBox system, they are also posted to the applicable QBuxBox.  This Spendable QBuxBox info enables you to know if you have any money to spend.  See the QBuxBox info per the accounts 3x and 4x above.
    E>  Of  course,  you will have already defined "Spending" QBuxBoxes  of your life.  One user has set up a QBuxBox for each of the following: 

     Auto fuel, Auto insurance, Auto loan; Auto Maintenance, Clothing, Entertainment, Regular Church Donations, Bldg Fund Pledge Donations, Food - groceries, Food - eating out, Gifts - birthday, Gifts - Christmas, Her Spending, His Spending, Home-insurance, Home-Maintenance, Home Mortgage, Life insurance, Medical Expenses, Dental Expense, monthly memberships, Utilities, Internet costs, and Misc Costs. 
     We recommend you should begin with such  QBuxBoxes found in the above report sample and expand to such detail only when you need better control in a particular Life Style area of your life.  Remember -- the emphasis here is "Spending Controls" and not necessarily to do accounting for tax or investment purposes.   QBuxBoxes  parallels the use of the Envelope system  ----- Click Here  for a copy of a story about the use of the Envelope system as an alternative to the usual budget process.  Other info about Envelopes is listed when you Click Here.

    F>  Please go to  0579  for a QBuxBox Hands On Tutorial resource.
    G> You determine in advance how much of your available money upon receipt goes into these "Spending" areas and you place all of your money into the applicable QBuxBox. 
    H> You make no buying decisions simply based on your Bank or Plastic/Credit Card account balances.
    J> You make full use of the monthly "Float" or "Buffer"  period that your Credit Card Co allows you -- or you righteously "buy now and pay later" with no interest/fee costs. Please  Click Here  for more info on this topic. See the $1,600.00 in the Sample above.    

  FINIS:

     Let me know at  Jim@bcidot.org  if you would like to utilize this  eQBuxBox System --  be sure and ask me about a helper named Pen.  Also let me know if you have any comments or questions about any of these matters or if you would like me to send this to you as a Word Doc attachment via Email. 
     Remember - It is my desire to encourage you in your Christian walk and to be "Your Servant for Jesus Sake:" II Corinthians 4:5B  - Thank you

This was updated on July 13, 2008  

====================================================================================

         Click here for LINKS TO  www.bcidot.org   RELEVANT CONTENT  

         Click here for LINKS TO RELEVANT CONTENT ON OTHER WEB SITES