58 Quotes by Michelle Singletary

I'm driving my old car until I'm on a first name basis with the low tow truck drivers!

You don't need to waste money on a fancy program or app to do a basic budget. I've been using a simple Excel spreadsheet since 2005 to track my monthly budget.

To get started, track your expenses for a couple of months. Then you should be able to start filling in your estimated debits and deposits for the next few months. Once you get it rolling for a while, you will be able to see your budget for the upcoming months reflected in the estimated totals. You can even notice year-to-year trends, like bonuses, tax bills, etc. that come up routinely and it will help you budget accordingly.

I'm not a fan of debt consolidation. In my experience, many people "clear" credit cards and other debt to get the one payment and never change what they need to change to prevent getting into debt again.

We have to protect ourselves by doing our own homework.

I usually find that my gut doesn't steer me wrong when it comes to my money!

You made a decision given your life circumstances and you have to be ok with that. Regrets that can't be change is just torturing yourself.

My husband and I are pretty good at leaving money alone until we need it for what we've saved it for.

The sad thing is many people learn how to manage money after they've made a lot of financial mistakes, some that take decades to fix.