I received some Fiber One samples for cereal and a cereal bar in the mail. I signed up for them a few weeks ago, as it is always nice to get something free!

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A few days ago I signed up for Quicken online to track expenses and utilize a budget upon other blog members recommending it in the past, and more recently Monkey Mama had mentioned that she uses it. It is very convenient to have bank , credit card, investment accounts, etc. all at one place to view everything together. I'm a bit confused about the section titled, "Am I Living Within My Means?". I know that I am, living within my means because I have $ leftover at the end of the month, but the figures seem to get jumbled up when I transfer money out into a savings account. In addition, for example, when I go to Walmart and buy groceries, pet supplies, and household items the total amount spent is registered...and I can't figure out how to allocate each subtotal into their respective categories. I don't know if that is possible or not. Up to this point I have been tracking my income and expenses on 3x5 index cards with a week on each card, that I carry with me in my purse. I have found that even though I've gotten accustomed to doing it that way now that I've been actively tracking my expenses for 2 months, it is very tedious. I may still try to do the pen & paper method as a backup system. I just don't know if ways exist in Quicken online to better "fine tune" the certain areas mentioned previously in this entry or not. Any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. I will try this for free for 2 months and see how it goes. It's only $2.99/month after that...so we will see. Despite those few issues that I've encountered, I really do like the site with the pie charts, accounts overview, and budgeting sections, but somehow it seems likes the numbers aren't as precise as far as category expenditures as I would like them to be. Oh well!!