Financial management is a top priority in my life. I would think that this a top priority of most people. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been reading books on managing my money. If there is one thing I have learned from these books is that the most basic tenet of money management is, before you can manage your money, you must have an awareness of where it is going. This is certainly not a remarkable revelation…

Back in 2006, I started using a financial application called Quicken. Quicken is a tool and a practical solution that
helps me keep abreast of how I am spending my money on a regular basis. Needless to say, I now have a comprehensive history of my spending habits for the past four years. I can’t tell you how invaluable it is to have my financial history, broken down into categories, for this time range. It has really helped me understand my spending habits which ultimately allows me to make adjustments and better informed financial decisions going forward. So, what are the features of Quicken that have helped me manage my money?

Interfaces with your bank, brokerage, and mortgage accounts.

In your initial setup of the application, you set up any account that you may have including your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, mortgage, or home equity loans. If your institution allows an interface to Quicken, and all of mine did, you can set up all of your accounts in minutes.

One click update of accounts.

With one click you can run an update of all of your accounts which will retrieve all of your transactions from your last update.

Categories will identify your spending.

This is the one thing that requires a little bit of work. You have to set up different Categories that identify your transactions. I set up parent categories such as Fuel-Automotive and then have subcategories beneath which identifies each of my cars. When I buy gas for one of my cars I ensure that it falls under the proper car category. What is great about setting up parent and child relationships is that in the reports all of the child categories will roll up to the parent so, at a quick glance, you can see how much you are spending on gas per month. Most of the setting up of categories is done initially and what is great is that Quicken will remember if you have already categorized a particular payee and it will default in that category. It takes me roughly 10 minutes per week to run the update and categorize any transactions that may be new to Quicken.

Setting up a Budget.

There is a separate section in Quicken which allows you to set up a Budget. What is great is that it will use your past history to automate the process. You can then make any changes needed.

Reporting gives you the visibility.

Once you have a history of your transactions in the application, the reporting is phenomenal. There is a list of roughly 20 reports for Spending, Comparison, and Investing. To be honest, I use the Spending by Category report religiously. I also use the Spending by Payee report . I haven’t ventured into a lot of the Comparison reports but an example of one is Current Spending versus Average Spending by Category. It allows you a chance to see if there are any radical changes in what you typically spend on an average by category , to what your current spending is by category. This is a report that can really help you manage any changes in your spending.

Great at tax time.

When I am ready to do my taxes, I have found that I have all of my pertinent information already in Quicken. I am talking about my property taxes, mortgage interest, car registration, charitable contributions, etc. Basically anything associated with doing your taxes can be found quickly in Quicken. It has made a year-end pain-in-the-neck process, that much easier.

[cw4]Quicken has helped me take control of my finances. I can also say that I have only scratched the surface of the features that Quicken offers. But, for taking control of your spending, and knowing exactly where your hard-earned money is going, there is no better tool. Put down that notebook, stop updating that spreadsheet, and choose the automated financial management solution to your finances. I have used it religiously now for years and you cannot go wrong if you want to take control of your financial life.
(Disclosure: The image at the top of the post is an affiliate link.)

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The Ugly Roof! (May 29,2009)

This blog is geared toward practical solutions, and I certainly have one for you with this post. We had a new roof done on our house approximately ten years ago and, for a long time, it looked great. As the years went by, it started developing streaks and black mold on the roof shingles on the shady side of the house.  Understandably, I was concerned that we’d have to have our roof replaced. Up to this point, I hadn’t really heard of roof cleaning services. The most unnerving thing was that we were told that it should last at least 20 years.  So, I made it a point to start looking at other houses in my town and I saw roof mold, roof stains, and roof algae on many homes.  I remember distinctly, as we backed out of our driveway one day, my eldest daughter exclaimed, “Our roof looks horrible!”  And I agreed, wholeheartedly.

How to Remove Mold

So, I made it my mission to start doing my research on how to get rid of black mold on my roof.  I discovered that the build-up of dirt, mildew, black mold, fungus, and moss is prevalent especially on the roof on the shady side of a house.  I also discovered that there is a product for roof cleaning called Shingle Shield Roof and Deck Cleaner that, when applied with a pump sprayer, and hosed off, will remove these streaks from your roof.

Now the big problem was, to remove these streaks, you had to apply the diluted solution of the roof cleaner, directly to the roof!  And it basically required you to get onto your roof.  My wife had no desire to become a widow, so I ended up calling my chimney professional that cleans my chimney once a year.  He really didn’t know about the product and I thought that this could be another source of revenue for him.  He was interested in doing the job, so I purchased the product online and set up an appointment for him to apply the product to my roof.

He had the proper ladders to get up to the roof and had a special roof ladder that hooked over the ridge of the roof.  Prior to heading onto the roof we made it a point to cover all the bushes with plastic, even though the product is advertised as being non-toxic to plants.  I just thought it would make sense to cover them, just in case.

He then applied the product with a pump sprayer directly onto the streaks first.  Then he applied the solution to the whole roof by moving his roof ladder along the face of the roof.

After applying the solution to the whole roof, I handed him the lawn hose and he went up to the ridge of the house and sprayed off the solution with the garden hose.  He simply moved from one side of the roof to the other and thoroughly hosed down the roof.  You could see the stains disappear almost immediately.

After doing the initial application, you may have to go over individual streaks with a soft brush to get the really dark streaks totally removed. Cleaning roof mold takes some work and elbow grease if you want it entirely off of your roof.

How to Get Rid of Mold Forever

One final step, if you do not want these streaks to return, is to have your roofing specialist apply zinc strips under the shingles at the ridgeline of your roof.  This should prevent the black mold and fungus from returning over time.  You can find these zinc strips on the website mentioned earlier in the post.  As you can see from the before and after photos below, this stuff works! (Please check the updated photo of how it looks two years later.)

Before using ShingleShield.

After using ShingleShield. (June 4,2009)

Instead of paying big bucks for a new roof, consider roof cleaning products and give your roof a makeover.  For a few hundred dollars you’ll be able to look at your house with pride again.

(Updated on August 21st, 2011)

As of August 21, 2011

(Disclosure: I have no affiliation with the product mentioned in this post.  I am just a very happy customer.)

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