As someone who is debt free in all other aspects of my life, it’s probably not surprising that I prepay my mortgage. By prepaying, I mean paying more than the required payment each month. This will allow me to pay off my mortgage in about a third of the time. I’ll save a ton on interest and it seems like good financial sense, but there are some opposing views to consider. The fact that opinions vary so widely on the subject is a good indication that the right answer is highly dependent on your personal situation. Statements like “prepay 10% extra each month and you’ll be in a great position” are of no real value to anyone. There are simply too many other factors:

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This announcement is mainly for rss and email subscribers, but will keep all regulars to Richer by the Day updated as well. Recent visitors to Richer by the Day have certainly noticed a new look and feel to the website. This is the result of my transition from Blogger to Wordpress as a back end to the blog. The transition included a MAJOR overhaul. Please bear with me as I get the new site up and running, with the custom theme that I designed. If you notice anything strange (broken links etc) please send me an email (service at spindage dot com) with a description of the problem. Some areas of the site, like the about page and contact form are still under construction. I hope that this transition will allow for greater creativity and a better experience for all of my readers.

In part 1 of this post, I gave an overview to the envelope budgeting method. In this post, I present a few ways to implement the essence of that method, in a way more suited to the modern world.

The main problem with envelope budgeting in the modern world is that we have become a cashless society. Imagine trying to keep track of expenses, credit cards, online bill payments, and the many other ways we deal with money by using a cash based system.

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The envelope budgeting method is a tried and true, if not somewhat outdated, way of tracking your finances. Before going into how to use this method in the modern world, I thought I’d present an overview.

In order to fully appreciate the method, let’s return to simpler times when cash was king. When you got your paycheck, you’d cash it and use that cash to pay for your expenses. Instead of just having one pile of cash and pulling from that pile to pay for all expenses, the envelope budgeting method was developed.

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With oil prices hitting record highs, it’s no wonder that gas prices continue to remain high. To help combat overspending, shop around for the lowest price and fill you tank at the coolest time of day.

To accomplish the first point, use GasBuddy.com. There you can enter your zipcode and find the cheapest gas in your area. It doesn’t make sense to drive to a distant gas station to save a few pennies, but as they say on the site, gas prices can vary by as much as 20% within only a few blocks. Going slightly out of your way for a

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