The Budgeting Resource Everyone Has (And Nobody Uses)

Diane Buchanan • October 18, 2016

This article was written by Sandi Martin of Spring Personal Finance and was originally published here on Spring The Blog on Oct. 27th 2015.

Does This Sound Familiar?

You’ve read a book or a blog series or watched a show about budgeting and getting your money under control. You’re all fired up, ready to really get it together, and get to work on that budget. The first few lines are easy:

Monthly net income? Read it off the paycheque, check.

Mortgage payment? Burned in the memory, check. Oh, man. This budgeting stuff is easy.

Groceries? Uh…well, we usually shop once a week (unless we forgot something) and it usually comes in between $120-$180…I’ll put $150.

Clothing? Oh, man. I don’t know, $50? Except in September, when the kids go back to school, and October when their feet maliciously grow and we have to buy new running shoes with only one month until the snow falls…and April, when we realize it’s too warm for winter coats and too cold for sweaters…

Entertainment? Erm…let’s say $10. I dunno, do late charges at the library count?

When the time comes to “stick to the budget” and that budget is just a series of made up numbers, what happens?

Or This?

You take the advice most people are offering about controlling your spending: you begin to track your income. You get a notebook and a pen, and you write down every penny you spend, every day. Until Thursday comes along, and you’re so busy that you just keep the receipts in the book, because you know you’ll have time on Friday and you’ll remember, but Friday becomes Saturday two weeks later, and you’re sitting in front of a pile of little pieces of paper, trying to forensically reconstruct seventeen days of spending and hoping that missing the two pocketfuls of receipts that went through the wash won’t screw you up too much.

Maybe, instead of the notebook or spreadsheet, you signed up for Mint or Quicken or YNAB instead, and you faithfully input or categorize all of your spending for almost a month. And then suddenly your checking account (according to the program) has $1,315.92 in it, when your checking account (according to reality) has $541.01. And you can’t find the mistake.

When your books are a mess and you actually have no idea how closely you’ve been “sticking to the budget”, what happens?

Protip: Use What You Already Have to Start Budgeting Well

Look, these things happen, even to someone who ::cough:: has been tracking her transactions and living on a spending plan for ::coughtenyearscough:: But when one of these is your first experience with the whole budgeting thing, it can very, very easily be your last. Or your last for a while. I truly don’t understand why the inevitable advice for first-timers is always A) write out a budget and/or B) track your spending. The only people who won’t get lost in the land of 78 spending categories and account reconciliation are the ones who probably wouldn’t have needed to read the book or watch the TV show to get themselves organized, and were going to be fine anyway.

The frustration goes away with time and practice, it really does. Any budgeting system will work if you give yourself enough time to learn and adapt to it, honestly. But why go through all the aggravation of trying to live by a guess-timated budget if you don’t have to?

If you’re convinced that some part of budgeting is worth doing, then the first place to start isn’t how you’re going to spend in the future; it’s how you’ve already spent in the past.

You have years worth of data lying dormant in your bank and credit card history as we speak – a complete picture of how you spent your money when you weren’t paying attention, and accessing it is as simple as downloading a good sample size to a spreadsheet, sorting them out, and adding them up.

Easy For Me To Say

This is one of those pieces of advice that could very easily become that “just” advice that I hate so much.

I use spreadsheets every day (and love every minute of it) so this is an easy thing for me to do and recommend. If you don’t speak spreadsheet very fluently, this exercise might be as frustrating as trying to guess how much you’re going to spend on clothes in the next _insert arbitrary period of time here_.

But, like most things prefaced with “just”, it might be worth your time and effort to try. If you have even a passing familiarity with rows, columns, and cells, and know how to use the “sort” function, examining your past spending in aggregate is a good way to set yourself up for success with your future spending .

Why start with a guess when you can start with data?

Note: Some readers have mistakenly read this as a recommendation to use spreadsheets to track ongoing spending, to which I can only say: please don’t use spreadsheets to track your spending unless you’re a confirmed spreadsheet ninja. /PSA

 

DIANE BUCHANAN
 Mortgage Broker

LET'S TALK

How Payment Frequency Impacts Mortgage Financing

By Diane Buchanan • October 15, 2025
You’ve most likely heard that there are two certainties in life; death and taxes. Well, as it relates to your mortgage, the single certainty is that you will pay back what you borrow, plus interest. With that said, the frequency of how often you make payments to the lender is somewhat up to you! The following looks at the different types of payment frequencies and how they impact your mortgage. Here are the six payment frequency types Monthly payments – 12 payments per year Semi-Monthly payments – 24 payments per year Bi-weekly payments – 26 payments per year Weekly payments – 52 payments per year Accelerated bi-weekly payments – 26 payments per year Accelerated weekly payments – 52 payments per year Options one through four are straightforward and designed to match your payment frequency with your employer. So if you get paid monthly, it makes sense to arrange your mortgage payments to come out a few days after payday. If you get paid every second Friday, it might make sense to have your mortgage payments match your payday. However, options five and six have that word accelerated before the payment frequency. Accelerated bi-weekly and accelerated weekly payments accelerate how fast you pay down your mortgage. Choosing the accelerated option allows you to lower your overall cost of borrowing on autopilot. Here’s how it works. With the accelerated bi-weekly payment frequency, you make 26 payments in the year. Instead of dividing the total annual payment by 26 payments, you divide the total yearly payment by 24 payments as if you set the payments as semi-monthly. Then you make 26 payments on the bi-weekly frequency at the higher amount. So let’s use a $1000 payment as the example: Monthly payments formula: $1000/1 with 12 payments per year. A payment of $1000 is made once per month for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Semi-monthly formula: $1000/2 with 24 payments per year. A payment of $500 is paid twice per month for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Bi-weekly formula: $1000 x 12 / 26 with 26 payments per year. A payment of $461.54 is made every second week for a total of $12,000 paid per year. Accelerated bi-weekly formula: $1000/2 with 26 payments per year. A payment of $500 is made every second week for a total of $13,000 paid per year. You see, by making the accelerated bi-weekly payments, it’s like you end up making two extra payments each year. By making a higher payment amount, you reduce your mortgage principal, which saves interest on the entire life of your mortgage. The payments for accelerated weekly payments work the same way. It’s just that you’d be making 52 payments a year instead of 26. By choosing an accelerated option for your payment frequency, you lower the overall cost of borrowing by making small extra payments as part of your regular payment schedule. Now, exactly how much you’ll save over the life of your mortgage is hard to nail down. Calculations are hard to do because of the many variables; mortgages come with different amortization periods and terms with varying interest rates along the way. However, an accelerated bi-weekly payment schedule could reduce your amortization by up to three years if maintained throughout the life of your mortgage. If you’d like to look at some of the numbers as they relate to you and your mortgage, please don’t hesitate to connect anytime; it would be a pleasure to work with you.

Start Smart: Get Pre-Approved for Your Mortgage

By Diane Buchanan • October 8, 2025
Thinking of Buying a Home? Here’s Why Getting Pre-Approved Is Key If you’re ready to buy a home but aren’t sure where to begin, the answer is simple: start with a pre-approval. It’s one of the most important first steps in your home-buying journey—and here's why. Why a Pre-Approval is Crucial Imagine walking into a restaurant, hungry and excited to order, but unsure if your credit card will cover the bill. It’s the same situation with buying a home. You can browse listings online all day, but until you know how much you can afford, you’re just window shopping. Getting pre-approved for a mortgage is like finding out the price range you can comfortably shop within before you start looking at homes with a real estate agent. It sets you up for success and saves you from wasting time on properties that might be out of reach. What Exactly is a Pre-Approval? A pre-approval isn’t a guarantee. It’s not a promise that a lender will give you a mortgage no matter what happens with your finances. It’s more like a preview of your financial health, giving you a clear idea of how much you can borrow, based on the information you provide at the time. Think of it as a roadmap. After going through the pre-approval process, you’ll have a much clearer picture of what you can afford and what you need to do to make the final approval process smoother. What Happens During the Pre-Approval Process? When you apply for a pre-approval, lenders will look at a few key areas: Your income Your credit history Your assets and liabilities The property you’re interested in This comprehensive review will uncover any potential hurdles that could prevent you from securing financing later on. The earlier you identify these challenges, the better. Potential Issues a Pre-Approval Can Reveal Even if you feel confident that your finances are in good shape, a pre-approval might uncover issues you didn’t expect: Recent job changes or probation periods An income that’s heavily commission-based or reliant on extra shifts Errors or collections on your credit report Lack of a well-established credit history Insufficient funds saved for a down payment Existing debt reducing your qualification amount Any other financial blind spots you might not be aware of By addressing these issues early, you give yourself the best chance of securing the mortgage you need. A pre-approval makes sure there are no surprises along the way. Pre-Approval vs. Pre-Qualification: What’s the Difference? It’s important to understand that a pre-approval is more than just a quick online estimate. Unlike pre-qualification—which can sometimes be based on limited information and calculations—a pre-approval involves a thorough review of your finances. This includes looking at your credit report, providing detailed documents, and having a conversation with a mortgage professional about your options. Why Get Pre-Approved Now? The best time to secure a pre-approval is as soon as possible. The process is free and carries no risk—it just gives you a clear path forward. It’s never too early to start, and by doing so, you’ll be in a much stronger position when you're ready to make an offer on your dream home. Let’s Make Your Home Buying Journey Smooth A well-planned mortgage process can make all the difference in securing your home. If you’re ready to get pre-approved or just want to chat about your options, I’d love to help. Let’s make your home-buying experience a smooth and successful one!