Marcia Horn Noyes
Aug 23, 2017 · 1 min read

Anders, great article; one missing piece. Years ago, I found that the big things like car insurance, home insurance, HOA fees and estimated taxes are what throw people’s budgets off. You think you are making and have enough money and BAM, you get that big bill. In 1986, I expressed that dismay to my mother-in-law who taught me a little trick. She would take the full amount of insurance for the year, and divide that by 12. Each month, she’d take that amount and deduct it from her check book and write it in the back. It becomes like a secret savings that only you know about. When that car insurance bill arrives, I would add up all those entries and pay the whole thing in advance, thus saving all those per-month fees.

Through the years, I’ve done this with life insurance and now I’m my own bank for life insurance, making interest on the money that I set aside for life insurance. This became the best advice I ever received in this life. I never worry about money and haven’t for years. I look forward to going to my mailbox, versus those who dread the chore for fear of what’s in there that they owe.

If anyone wants to reach out to get a copy of my spreadsheet or learn how to do this, please feel free. One caveat, you must know how to balance a checkbook and be willing to collect all your receipts of everything you buy. If you can do both of those things, this method will work.

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Marcia Horn Noyes

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Running long distances and writing -- currently training for a Boston qualifying time at Austin Livestrong Marathon -- Feb. 2013