To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are s
   Start Your Own Profitable Internet Business... Become An Online Infopreneur
   Have you wondered how you can get started making money on the internet but do not know where to start? What better way to start your very own profitable internet business than to become an Infopreneur! Are you tired of making money for someone else? Maybe your fed up with the corporate world like I was.Maybe you want to stay home so you can raise your kids instead of someone else - like my wife. Maybe your just looking to make some extra income from home. Whatever the reason is for your motivation, creating your own information based Website will provide that opportunity to become financially free.Today, millions of people from all walks of life already use the internet daily. It is the most flexible and most convenient way for finding information. Information and communication are fundamental components of every human interaction. The internet makes it possible to reach almost anyone, anywhere in the world. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are the three biggest companies on the internet. Their success into becoming the big three giants are a result of providing useful information to the world. Lots of it too!One of the biggest advantages of becoming an infopreneur is that you do not need a tangible product to sell. The cost savings of manufacturing a product and dealing with manufacturing issues are tremendous. By creating your very own information based Website all you need is quality information about a subject that you are absolutely passionate about.Just think about all those favorite Websites you have bookmarked. I bet you have a whole bunch of sites, I know I do. Why do you think you bookmarked those sites? Well, because they gave you the information you were looking for, useful information. They attracted you to their site because they provided you with what you were looking for... quality information! Now don't you think other people are out there looking for quality information too?Becoming an Online Infopreneur is all about providing useful information and connecting people. You can be a sought after communicator of information on the Web! What are you passionate about, NASCAR or Antiques? Do you have a hobby, HotWheel collecting? What are you truely interested in, cooking or travel? What is your favorite pastime, baseball or horseshoes? Do you have any work experience you can provide information about?People that surf the Web love information that reflects the Website creators passion about a certain topic (travel, cooking, antiques, sports, church, gardens, ect.). You
   The data that is available from the Federal Reserve Board is staggering. In 1989, credit card debt in America had reached $238 billion. By 2005, this number had almost tripled topping out at around $800 billion. The average Middle Class American family owes approximately $9,000 in credit card debt. When interest rates fell to “all time lows” and homeowners rushed to the banks to cash out all of their available equity on interest-only adjustable rate mortgages, they learned a harsh lesson when interest rates began to rise.

   With the end of their interest only payment options coming due, we are seeing the results of the lack of a good budgeting system. The practice of excessively living beyond our means by treating credit as a source of wealth and not looking to the future is at last being exposed for what it really is: a harsh road to foreclosure and bankruptcy.

   What about the folks who are not $9,000 or even $1,000 in debt, and yet never seem to have much money, and even if or when they do, they never seem to be able to make it last or put it to it’s best use? What the about those who do have a lot of extra money? What about those who make several thousand dollars more per month than what their bills amount to? Are they in serious trouble as well? Sadly, I’m afraid so. What is amazing is that the cause is the same for the well off as it is for the poor: the lack of a good budgeting system.

   The Traditional Approach

   There are numerous “traditional” methods of budgeting, which include simply balancing your checkbook and making sure you keep track of all of the checks you write. There are software programs like MS Money and Quicken that allow you to see where your money is being spent. There are a few pencil and paper methods where you are told to write down everything you spend your money on and make sure that that never exceeds your monthly income.

   The common trait among all of these methods; however, is that they take a pragmatic approach to budgeting. Rather than relying on principle, they treat each expense or “budget problem” as unique. As such, there can be many different methods to budget your money, and the success or failure of a particular system depends on whether “it works” (at least in the short-term) regardless of the long-term consequences of the method. It is not surprising, then, that we see several different popular methods all claiming to be “the right one” or “the best”.

   These methods are also 100% reactionary. Which means you are passively reacting to your money, your bills, and your financial life in general. The system depends on you reconciling your checkbook, or your spreadsheet, or whatever you’re using after you’ve already made purchases. These methods can only record and track your spending history, not help you control your current and future financial situation. The result is a static report of your past.

   If you find yourself in a position where you never seem to have any money or enough money at the end of the month, this is the reason why. You cannot simply react to the world around you and try to control it at the same time. This passive, reactionary approach to budgeting often leaves an individual wondering “what am I doing wrong? I know what my expenses are, I know how much money I make every week/month, why can’t I seem to get ahead?”

   If you find yourself with a lot of “extra” money, it is entirely possible, and in fact probable that you are losing money in the form of opportunity cost. Often times, those who are well off don’t see the need for a budget. They perceive it as something only the poor or the less well off folks need. However, budgeting in principle is good, therefore it is good no matter who you are - rich, middle class, or poor. To illustrate this point consider the situation of the famous pop singer Elton John who, earning $25 million a year, was spending so much money that he had to take out a $40 million loan just to pay off his debts. Even if you are thrifty, budgeting can be the difference between controlling where and what your savings is doing (in terms of return on investment) or simply passively reacting to it.

   Then, there are what I call the "inspirational" methods. These are budgeting "tips" which set unrealistic expectations on you such as "just cut back on going out to the movies" or "always buy the generic brand" when grocery shopping. These methods attempt to control your lifestyle and dictate your wants and desires. It is no surprise that, usually, these systems fail for most people because they present you with a dichotomy (a split) between "needs" and "wants" that makes life generally unpleasant. I'm not saying that there aren't things that you should cut back on or that you don't need to change your lifestyle in order to become financially successful. But, whatever changes you make to your life should be your choice, not your advisor's.

   The “Unit Method”

   The Unit Method of budgeting takes a fundamentally different approach to managing your money. Instead of taking the pragmatic, reactionary approach, we are going to take a pro-active approach. Instead of simply reacting to each individual expense, we are going to plan for them and budget them before they ever happen. Instead of passively monitoring our savings, we are going to control it. Instead of telling you what to cut back on, to start buying the generic brands, or how you should live your life, we are going to let you make that choice.

   To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

   The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

   1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are se
      Kick Off A Jump Starting In The World Of Business
      You might have put off your idea of starting up a new business simply because you lack amount of money that you need for the purpose. Thus, in spite of having a missionary zeal and a visionary mind, you are unable to give shape to your business ideas. Well, no more will your business plan remain unexecuted and vanish in the abyss of oblivion. New start-up business loans are there to take the responsibility of providing you cash and let you kick-off a jump starting in the world of trade and commerce.Being a novice in the commercial world, you might feel the urgency of buying lots of equipment, machinery, raw materials etc. Or you might be in need of cash to buy a business plant, an office space in a posh area, furniture for the hotel, restaurant, bar etc. you are going to open. All these and other such business needs can be fulfilled with new start-up business loans.Lenders all over the world offer these loans in secured and unsecured form. No matter whether you are capable of offering collateral or not, you can take out these loans. The secured one can be taken by attaching collateral. This, in turn, will enable you to borrow a big amount of money at comparatively low interest rate. You will also have the flexibility to repay the borrowed money in small monthly instalments.The unsecured new business start-up loan does not require the backing of any collateral. In is available to both homeowners as well as tenants. Since it does not necessitate any collateral, the lender enjoys some benefits which are absent with secured loan. Less documentation, quick money delivery and the absence of property assessment cost are some of the important benefits of this loan. No matter which type of new start-up business loan you take, it will certainly help you get your business off the ground.
      ll? Sadly, I’m afraid so. What is amazing is that the cause is the same for the well off as it is for the poor: the lack of a good budgeting system.

      The Traditional Approach

      There are numerous “traditional” methods of budgeting, which include simply balancing your checkbook and making sure you keep track of all of the checks you write. There are software programs like MS Money and Quicken that allow you to see where your money is being spent. There are a few pencil and paper methods where you are told to write down everything you spend your money on and make sure that that never exceeds your monthly income.

      The common trait among all of these methods; however, is that they take a pragmatic approach to budgeting. Rather than relying on principle, they treat each expense or “budget problem” as unique. As such, there can be many different methods to budget your money, and the success or failure of a particular system depends on whether “it works” (at least in the short-term) regardless of the long-term consequences of the method. It is not surprising, then, that we see several different popular methods all claiming to be “the right one” or “the best”.

      These methods are also 100% reactionary. Which means you are passively reacting to your money, your bills, and your financial life in general. The system depends on you reconciling your checkbook, or your spreadsheet, or whatever you’re using after you’ve already made purchases. These methods can only record and track your spending history, not help you control your current and future financial situation. The result is a static report of your past.

      If you find yourself in a position where you never seem to have any money or enough money at the end of the month, this is the reason why. You cannot simply react to the world around you and try to control it at the same time. This passive, reactionary approach to budgeting often leaves an individual wondering “what am I doing wrong? I know what my expenses are, I know how much money I make every week/month, why can’t I seem to get ahead?”

      If you find yourself with a lot of “extra” money, it is entirely possible, and in fact probable that you are losing money in the form of opportunity cost. Often times, those who are well off don’t see the need for a budget. They perceive it as something only the poor or the less well off folks need. However, budgeting in principle is good, therefore it is good no matter who you are - rich, middle class, or poor. To illustrate this point consider the situation of the famous pop singer Elton John who, earning $25 million a year, was spending so much money that he had to take out a $40 million loan just to pay off his debts. Even if you are thrifty, budgeting can be the difference between controlling where and what your savings is doing (in terms of return on investment) or simply passively reacting to it.

      Then, there are what I call the "inspirational" methods. These are budgeting "tips" which set unrealistic expectations on you such as "just cut back on going out to the movies" or "always buy the generic brand" when grocery shopping. These methods attempt to control your lifestyle and dictate your wants and desires. It is no surprise that, usually, these systems fail for most people because they present you with a dichotomy (a split) between "needs" and "wants" that makes life generally unpleasant. I'm not saying that there aren't things that you should cut back on or that you don't need to change your lifestyle in order to become financially successful. But, whatever changes you make to your life should be your choice, not your advisor's.

      The “Unit Method”

      The Unit Method of budgeting takes a fundamentally different approach to managing your money. Instead of taking the pragmatic, reactionary approach, we are going to take a pro-active approach. Instead of simply reacting to each individual expense, we are going to plan for them and budget them before they ever happen. Instead of passively monitoring our savings, we are going to control it. Instead of telling you what to cut back on, to start buying the generic brands, or how you should live your life, we are going to let you make that choice.

      To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

      The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

      1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are s
         Creating a Powerful Project Vision
         You walk into your local grocery or market, looking for apples. You see the displays. They are bursting with apples of many varieties. To your left you notice a sea of yellow and red apples – the sign says they are Jonathans. To your right you see bright, green Granny Smiths. But straight ahead, you see the biggest, reddest Red Delicious apples you have ever seen. You are drawn to the display knowing that is what you want. As you walk closer you can see that the merchant has polished every one.You pick up a bag and start to select a few of the red marvels. Usually in this process you sort through looking for the fruit with no blemishes or soft spots. Today, though, each of these beauties is perfect. It is as if the merchant has already done the work for you. As you hold each apple in your hand you notice that each one could be used in a picture postcard or an advertisement.You smile as you carry your paper bag of apples to the cashier. In your brief, pleasant conversation with the cashier you mention how great the apples look. He smiles and assures you that they taste even better. He mentions he had one on his break and he thought it was the best apple he had ever eaten.When you get to your car and close the door, suddenly all you can smell are apples! Between the sight, touch and conversation about the apples you were already hungry. But once you get the smell, you can wait no longer. Before you even start your car you pick up one of those big red apples and take a bite. The taste is incredibly sweet, and it is so firm that you hear that satisfying snap when you complete the bite and pull the apple from your lips.So tell me . . . Are you hungry for an apple?Can you almost taste the imaginary apple in this short story?If you can, there is a reason: Our minds can’t tell the difference between something real and something vividly imagined. If this story created a vivid mental image for you, you are likely wondering where you can find an apple.And in this story of the apple lies the keys to creating a powerful vision for a project team (or any team for that matter).The KeysA vision must be real. This story was more real for you if you buy apples, have a car and most importantly if you like apples (especially Red Delicious). When we make a vision for a project real for people – something that they can see happening and seems within the scope of the “possible” (even if it is a stretch) – we will make the vision m
         our money, your bills, and your financial life in general. The system depends on you reconciling your checkbook, or your spreadsheet, or whatever you’re using after you’ve already made purchases. These methods can only record and track your spending history, not help you control your current and future financial situation. The result is a static report of your past.

         If you find yourself in a position where you never seem to have any money or enough money at the end of the month, this is the reason why. You cannot simply react to the world around you and try to control it at the same time. This passive, reactionary approach to budgeting often leaves an individual wondering “what am I doing wrong? I know what my expenses are, I know how much money I make every week/month, why can’t I seem to get ahead?”

         If you find yourself with a lot of “extra” money, it is entirely possible, and in fact probable that you are losing money in the form of opportunity cost. Often times, those who are well off don’t see the need for a budget. They perceive it as something only the poor or the less well off folks need. However, budgeting in principle is good, therefore it is good no matter who you are - rich, middle class, or poor. To illustrate this point consider the situation of the famous pop singer Elton John who, earning $25 million a year, was spending so much money that he had to take out a $40 million loan just to pay off his debts. Even if you are thrifty, budgeting can be the difference between controlling where and what your savings is doing (in terms of return on investment) or simply passively reacting to it.

         Then, there are what I call the "inspirational" methods. These are budgeting "tips" which set unrealistic expectations on you such as "just cut back on going out to the movies" or "always buy the generic brand" when grocery shopping. These methods attempt to control your lifestyle and dictate your wants and desires. It is no surprise that, usually, these systems fail for most people because they present you with a dichotomy (a split) between "needs" and "wants" that makes life generally unpleasant. I'm not saying that there aren't things that you should cut back on or that you don't need to change your lifestyle in order to become financially successful. But, whatever changes you make to your life should be your choice, not your advisor's.

         The “Unit Method”

         The Unit Method of budgeting takes a fundamentally different approach to managing your money. Instead of taking the pragmatic, reactionary approach, we are going to take a pro-active approach. Instead of simply reacting to each individual expense, we are going to plan for them and budget them before they ever happen. Instead of passively monitoring our savings, we are going to control it. Instead of telling you what to cut back on, to start buying the generic brands, or how you should live your life, we are going to let you make that choice.

         To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

         The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

         1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are s
            Spiders, Foxes, and Articles
            In case you haven’t ever read anything by me yet, or in case you haven’t quite “twigged” my angle yet, then the simplest way I could put my overall marketing philosophy, is like this, Think of a spider, and its web, and also imagine a Fox, and his Cunning ways. To define these as strategies, I would say, the spider was “Catchall” type “Fisherman” strategy ( yes I was going to try and use a fishing analogy here but I have heard some before, and well, it just isn’t fit, ) Whereas the Fox, is a highly adaptive species, very clever, and will be able to figure out where to get food in practically any environment. Imagine, A spider-fox, an animal with all the cunning of a fox, and the ability to spin webs too! don’t you think that fox would set some Cunning traps, in places you wouldn’t even imagine? trying his luck, as well as edging his bets with Certain Sure Win “food-Traps”, imagine the Spider-Foxes surprise, when it stumbles across a trap it laid some days ago, and noticed it had more food than he had caught all week!!!That is my approach to marketing,Some people preach the Spider web philosophy, spread a Huge web and catch what you can, Bigger the Web, the more food you get. Sure, its true, its true, go on and do your work like that, yeah, you will make money. Then you got the Wiley Foxes, hunting down “Uber-Niches” no other person has hit yet, which is fine too, yeah that persons gonna make money too. They wont get as much food as the Spider-Fox though, who takes the best of both worlds, and tries out as many different things as possible, all thought out and methodical but Laying traps in Unusual places. This means Using Every tool at your disposal, and getting AS MUCH as you possibly can out of every Resource you possess or have access to,Thats Marketing, Thats Business,THATS Why you Should be writing articles for your business, something thought out and professional, based on the theme of your chosen niche. You got a website about, lets say Local Bands. You would probably have a Strong opinion and viewpoint on music, perhaps you have a passion for doing your best to help talented people get appreciated. You could write an informative article suggesting to people why they should appreciate and support talent from their local area, in a nice tactful sort of way obviously. That should now start becoming Second Nature for anyone who is reading this and expecting to get any use out of anything I discuss within my articles, Start Writing Informative Articles. Your definition of i
            is point consider the situation of the famous pop singer Elton John who, earning $25 million a year, was spending so much money that he had to take out a $40 million loan just to pay off his debts. Even if you are thrifty, budgeting can be the difference between controlling where and what your savings is doing (in terms of return on investment) or simply passively reacting to it.

            Then, there are what I call the "inspirational" methods. These are budgeting "tips" which set unrealistic expectations on you such as "just cut back on going out to the movies" or "always buy the generic brand" when grocery shopping. These methods attempt to control your lifestyle and dictate your wants and desires. It is no surprise that, usually, these systems fail for most people because they present you with a dichotomy (a split) between "needs" and "wants" that makes life generally unpleasant. I'm not saying that there aren't things that you should cut back on or that you don't need to change your lifestyle in order to become financially successful. But, whatever changes you make to your life should be your choice, not your advisor's.

            The “Unit Method”

            The Unit Method of budgeting takes a fundamentally different approach to managing your money. Instead of taking the pragmatic, reactionary approach, we are going to take a pro-active approach. Instead of simply reacting to each individual expense, we are going to plan for them and budget them before they ever happen. Instead of passively monitoring our savings, we are going to control it. Instead of telling you what to cut back on, to start buying the generic brands, or how you should live your life, we are going to let you make that choice.

            To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

            The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

            1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are s
               Expect to Get! A Fail Safe Formula
               In school we learn a variety of math formulas. We learn how to convert temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius; we learn how to calculate the area of a triangle and much more. The beauty of these formulas is the certainty they provide. We know that if we know the formula and have the correct inputs, we can compute the correct answer. Presumably, as adults we are using these formulas to solve a problem and move us towards something we desire.People ask me about unleashing their potential – how to do it, what steps to take and more. Because of this recurring and important question I have worked to distill part of the answer into a formula. This formula will help us because if we can identify the inputs and use the formula correctly, we can improve our performance, and provide greater service to others, as we reach towards our potential.The InputsThe inputs to this formula are:Expectations – Those things we expect of ourselves.Beliefs – What we believe to be true about ourselves, our skills, abilities and potential; and our world.Actions – the behaviors we exhibit and the things we do.Reality – the results or endpoint of the efforts.The FormulaThe formula goes like this: Expectations create beliefs. Beliefs create actions. Actions create realities.Perhaps you will want to remember this formula as: EBA=RAs written, it looks like it is a formula that uses multiplication. In a way it does – if you have a zero in any of the first three inputs, there will be no change to your reality (or results). However as we all learned in math class, in multiplication you can complete the formula by multiplying the factors in any order. In our formula it all starts with expectations, in other words, the multiplication must be done in order to make sense.Anything Else?Before I go any further, let me say that this formula assumes a desire to reach for new results – without desire to tap into or discover our potential the formula doesn’t even apply.But I know, because you are reading this article, you have that desire, so we can move onward …An ExampleLet’s say that I see a friend and they tell me they just ran a 10K race. I tell myself, I could do that – I expect that I am capable of running a 10K race. The more I think about this race, telling myself that I could do that, the more I believe my assertions. My belief and expectations begin to create an excitement which leads me to start running. Even when I re
               pragmatic, reactionary approach, we are going to take a pro-active approach. Instead of simply reacting to each individual expense, we are going to plan for them and budget them before they ever happen. Instead of passively monitoring our savings, we are going to control it. Instead of telling you what to cut back on, to start buying the generic brands, or how you should live your life, we are going to let you make that choice.

               To begin with, you need to gather together everything you spend your money on. It may be helpful to grab a cheap notebook and write down everything you spend your money on for an entire week, or an entire month, just to get an idea of where all of your money is going. Write down the specifics as well as how much money you spend on each item. Don’t forget the date that you made the purchase.

               The next step is to collect all of your regular expenses. Total up everything that you spend your money on in a year (including when you spend it). You want to look ahead 12 months because you don’t want to forget expenses that may only come once or twice a year - like taxes, or car insurance, etc. Some examples of regular expenses (just to get you thinking) are:

               1. Taxes (if using gross income or you are self employed)
               2. Mortgage Payment
               3. Second Mortgage payment
               4. Household (yard)
               5. Gas
               6. Elect/Water/ Gar
               7. Gas (for your automobile)
               8. Auto Insurance
               9. Maintenance (car maintenance like oil changes, tune ups, etc.)
               10. Automobile Registration
               11. TV
               12. Life Insurance
               13. Loans (car loans, personal loans, educational loans)
               14. Credit Cards
               15. Babysitting/Daycare
               16. Clothing
               17. Grocery
               18. Eating Out
               19. Nonfood grocery items (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, soap, laundry detergent, etc.)
               20. Medical Bills
               21. Hair cut/personal care items
               22. Charitable Donations
               23. Emergency Fund
               24. College Fund
               25. Dry Cleaning
               26. Birthday gifts
               27. Christmas gifts
               28. Holidays and other gifts (i.e. Valentine’s Day)
               29. Maintenance (home repairs, etc.)
               30. Retirement Savings
               31. Magazine Subscriptions
               32. Membership dues (elks club, moose, club, or other social organization)
               33. Dates (going out to “dinner and a movie” with your sweetheart)
               34. Video rentals
               35. Entertainment/”Play Money” (i.e. any hobbies)

               After you’ve gathered all of your expenses together, it’s time to do some thinking. The method that we will be using to develop your “bulletproof” budget actually involves two processes: differentiation and integration. What you need to do is try to identify similarities among two or more concrete or specific expenditures and differentiate them from the rest of your expenditures. This should be done as simplistically as possible. Then, we need to integrate these similar expenditures while omitting their specifics and thus forming a new “unit”. This new “unit” becomes the basis for our budget and will allow you to easily track and control everything in your financial life.

               The list I gave you above already accomplished part of the job for you. I merely asked you to do this process in reverse to come up with the concretes. For example, if you look at your expenditures and you find that you have a Discover card, 3 Chase cards, a Capital One card, and a Visa - we would group these together by their similarities, omit their specifics and form a new "unit" around them. From now on all credit cards can be filed under this “unit”.

               But, what do we call this "unit"? Do we simply refer to the unit as "credit cards"? Is this the common denominator? Perhaps. We could group all credit cards together and form a unit called "Credit Cards". However, perhaps we could do better than that. What is a credit card? What is its essence? What is its purpose? What does it allow us to do? Aren't we borrowing money when we charge up a credit card? Isn't the major distinction between this expense and all of the other ones really the fact that these are all some type of loan? I think that this would be a more accurate association than just "credit cards". "Credit cards" denote what they are but not their purpose. Their purpose is to provide us with credit - with a loan, and unsecured loan, but a loan just the same. This is the key to making the "Unit Method" really work for you. You must find the most accurate associations between your expenses.

               So, based on this, we form the unit "Loans" and file each credit card under this new unit. Now that we have begun to form our first unit, what other loans do we have? A loan out for an automobile? A college loan? A personal loan? We can also group these expenditures by their similarities, their common denominator - the fact that they are also loans - omit their specifics, and add them to the "Loans" unit. Again, we do not care what kind of loan they are, the term, the interest rate and so on, only that they are loans.

               The same thing can be done with “Entertainment”, “Insurance”, "Taxes", and so on. Remember when making associations to discover the purpose of the expense, not just what it is. After you have put together a list of all of your new budget “units” you can then simply file each concrete or individual specific expenditure under the new “unit”. These become “unit items”. For expenses we may use the general term “expense items”. For savings “savings items”. For investments, "investment items" and so on. For example:

               Loans:

               1. Wells Fargo (mortgage loan)
               2. Bank of America (personal loan)
               3. Community Bank (automobile loan)
               4. Chase card #1
               5. Chase Card #2
               6. Chase Card #3
               7. Discover Card
               8. Capital One
               9. Visa

               Now, we must reintroduce the specifics to each individual expense because we must determine the budget for the new “unit” that we have created. So, if your mortgage payment is $600/mo, your