Pagemonth users should prepare their 2014 home budget now if they have not already done so. Free budgets and free templates for Excel or MSWorks can be downloaded instantly at the bottom of our home page (pagemonth.com).
How to prepare for the new budget year?
Although all of our budgets and templates have identical formulas and formats, the information you will enter or modify will change from month to month, due to changes in the number of days in the month, which day of the week holidays will fall on, and similar data that change from one year to another.
So in setting up a 2014 budget the first thing to do is get a whole year 2014 calendar, such as the one on the back of your bank check register.
Next, Title your budget "budget14.xls" for Excel (or .xlr for Works) to keep it separate from earlier years, and always save it to its title to make certain you're working with the right file.
Next. move your 2013 file off your desktop into My Documents and pull it to back to the desktop only for revisions. (You will have revisions to make for a few weeks or even months.) The principle is that to use the correct year budget, have only the active year's file on the desktop at a time, and keep other years' files elsewhere.
Setting up your 2014 budget will be easier if you follow the suggestions on our Setup Page. Frame a workspace as described, then set up your January page first. Enter your expected income and expenses on the right hand, budget side under categories you choose, then distribute what you entered by dates on the left hand, cash flow side.
Unless you know to the penny particular amounts, use whole numbers and estimate to the nearest $5.00 or $10.00 on each item, as this will help locate estimated amounts to the eye. They will be revised to actual transacted amounts through the year, and actual amounts will be easier to identify visually because they will specify cents.
Estimate income amounts a bit lower than expected and expense amounts higher, and be prepared to modify even these for unexpected benefits and costs such as emergencies, accidents, raises or promotions.
Don't enter anticipated charges unless they are known or broadly estimated, such as planning to charge about $5,000 on next August's vacation or Christmas shopping. Since anticipated costs or income can be so nebulous, I seldom set aside amounts for them till they come into better focus. But as soon as you can anticipate any major changes--a move, a new job or house, another car or the end of installment loans, try to build in when you will expect your amounts to require adjustment.
Remember that no budget worth taking seriously can be locked in stone. You will be updating and revising it almost daily throughout the year, and that process will make it more accurate in reflecting actual transactions completed and projecting future ones.
When you have January's data set up, copy and paste it through the year's remaining months. You will be returning to each of them for adjustments in dates, items, and amounts, but gradually you will bring your financial picture into focus.
Enter your January Beginning Balance manually in cell J3. This cell is the only Beginning Balance in your 2014 file that requires you to enter an amount directly; Subsequent cells in the other eleven months of 2014 will be automatically carried forward from the End Balance of their previous month.
One of Pagemonth Budget's most underutilized advantages is its capability to test every aspect of itself to see "What would happen if . . .?" without saving in order to preserve prior data intact. So long as you do not save it, feel free to give yourself a raise, pay off any debts, or whatever you wish, and it will show you the immediate effect it will have throughout the month and year. This feature can be a great motivator. But be very careful not to save any scenario you create in a test, "trial budget" which might be mistaken for an actual, active file, If you create one you really want to keep, give it a name such as "2014trialbudget.xls" or "Iwish.xlr" before you save it, and keep it off your desktop unless tinkering with it.
If you utilize this advantage, you will be able to create a scenario of getting and spending that you can embrace for 2014 and use it as a blueprint, reference budget to adjust your real one.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
WebHostFace: the Best Webhost Anywhere
Merry Christmas to all the smiling faces at my new webhost, Webhostface.com!
I first learned of this excellent webhost from a strong desire to find a better company to deal with after I left my former host, tired of long waits, runarounds and incomplete answers. When the last guy told me after I tried to ask a follow-up question, "Look, I have others waiting," I began seeking a new one with an RVSitebuilder editing/publishing tool--a must-have since Pagemonth was created and maintained by that system.
Webhostface uses RVSitebuilder as its main website creation, editing and publishing tool, but here the similarity to any other ends.
Webhostface is about two dozen highly-qualified, highly-motivated young people with superb internet knowledge and diversity, uncanny fluency in English and many other languages,, 24/7 worldwide toll-free 800 number or personal chat at no charge whatsoever for the first month, then a very reasonable annual fee,personal warmth, individual attention, genuine caring and unhurried assistance.
There is no way I can list all of their friendly support and advantages here. You can get to know them better on Facebook at webhostface, or call 1-866-389-6676, or go to and explore http://webhostface.com anytime.
And check this out: http://webhostface.com/staff?opid=16. Who is the lovely lady in the picture? That's Rali, opid=16 and short for Ralitsa Mincheva. In fact, everyone has his or her smiling face pictured on a staff opid number. Inna=6. Victor=14. Silvia=10, and so on.. But not only can you see the person you're chatting with, you can learn their age, skills and expertise, likes and dislikes, education and majors, and how other staffers describe her or him. And be sure to meet Valentin Sharlanoff, opid=1. He founded Webhostface and remains its CEO, yet even he gets the same write-up, picture, and treatment as all the others.
When I first called, Rali picked up on the second ring. She's the Billing Manager, but she didn't immediately pass me off to another department. She explained everything I asked about, and spent about twenty minutes helping me navigate my signup for a free month's trial and login procedure. Since her shift was ending she connected me to Silvia, a Senior Sales Rep whom I later learned normally serves in chat, not phone. I have since phoned with Inna, another senior sales rep, Victor, a Support Team member, Ivo, another Senior Sales Rep. Radoslav ("Rado") and several others. None of them hurried me in any way as I sought to follow their step-by-step instructions. Name another webhost like that!
They work together seamlessly and cooperatively, all of them. And they do what they say they will do to solve my issues and do not give up on any of them until I report it solved. One can use a support ticket, but it's not usually needed due to the informative, patient personal conversation and chat. Name another webhost like that!
Christina (=4) answered my call a few days ago when I had a question about what I saw after login. Wherever I moved my mouse, tiny white circles fell and swirled through the illustrations then gathered at the page bottom. "It looks like it's snowing," I said. "Yes, that's snow." she said. "I can turn it off if you like."
Rado (=9) taught me that I don't even need to log in to manage/edit/publish my website, thus saving me many hours of logins and navigation. He showed me two ways to do it. And he stuck with me while I did it. He also taught me to use Firefox or Chrome for most tasks, not Explorer, which often presented errors. Thank you, Radoslav!
Silvia has helped me through many chats, brief and long, and she's never left me guessing about how to follow through. Thank you, Silvija!
As you may have guessed from a few names above, Webhostface is a Bulgarian company, located in Plovdiv. But despite its location it has other locations worldwide. In the 1980's and 1990's when the technological revolution was taking place in nearby countries, its youth grew up learning many languages and cultures and stressing electronic communications, marketing, business and finance.
You cannot tell from phone cslls or chats alone, but this happy group is extremely versatile and fun-loving. Their motto is "Service always comes with a smiling face," and they actually live up to it! Others would do well to emulate them. They have told me more than once when I've contacted them and feared I was wearing out my welcome, "Nelson, we consider you to be one of us." I could not conceive of a higher compliment. Merry Christmas, friends, and have a joyous New Year.
I first learned of this excellent webhost from a strong desire to find a better company to deal with after I left my former host, tired of long waits, runarounds and incomplete answers. When the last guy told me after I tried to ask a follow-up question, "Look, I have others waiting," I began seeking a new one with an RVSitebuilder editing/publishing tool--a must-have since Pagemonth was created and maintained by that system.
Webhostface uses RVSitebuilder as its main website creation, editing and publishing tool, but here the similarity to any other ends.
Webhostface is about two dozen highly-qualified, highly-motivated young people with superb internet knowledge and diversity, uncanny fluency in English and many other languages,, 24/7 worldwide toll-free 800 number or personal chat at no charge whatsoever for the first month, then a very reasonable annual fee,personal warmth, individual attention, genuine caring and unhurried assistance.
There is no way I can list all of their friendly support and advantages here. You can get to know them better on Facebook at webhostface, or call 1-866-389-6676, or go to and explore http://webhostface.com anytime.
And check this out: http://webhostface.com/staff?opid=16. Who is the lovely lady in the picture? That's Rali, opid=16 and short for Ralitsa Mincheva. In fact, everyone has his or her smiling face pictured on a staff opid number. Inna=6. Victor=14. Silvia=10, and so on.. But not only can you see the person you're chatting with, you can learn their age, skills and expertise, likes and dislikes, education and majors, and how other staffers describe her or him. And be sure to meet Valentin Sharlanoff, opid=1. He founded Webhostface and remains its CEO, yet even he gets the same write-up, picture, and treatment as all the others.
When I first called, Rali picked up on the second ring. She's the Billing Manager, but she didn't immediately pass me off to another department. She explained everything I asked about, and spent about twenty minutes helping me navigate my signup for a free month's trial and login procedure. Since her shift was ending she connected me to Silvia, a Senior Sales Rep whom I later learned normally serves in chat, not phone. I have since phoned with Inna, another senior sales rep, Victor, a Support Team member, Ivo, another Senior Sales Rep. Radoslav ("Rado") and several others. None of them hurried me in any way as I sought to follow their step-by-step instructions. Name another webhost like that!
They work together seamlessly and cooperatively, all of them. And they do what they say they will do to solve my issues and do not give up on any of them until I report it solved. One can use a support ticket, but it's not usually needed due to the informative, patient personal conversation and chat. Name another webhost like that!
Christina (=4) answered my call a few days ago when I had a question about what I saw after login. Wherever I moved my mouse, tiny white circles fell and swirled through the illustrations then gathered at the page bottom. "It looks like it's snowing," I said. "Yes, that's snow." she said. "I can turn it off if you like."
Rado (=9) taught me that I don't even need to log in to manage/edit/publish my website, thus saving me many hours of logins and navigation. He showed me two ways to do it. And he stuck with me while I did it. He also taught me to use Firefox or Chrome for most tasks, not Explorer, which often presented errors. Thank you, Radoslav!
Silvia has helped me through many chats, brief and long, and she's never left me guessing about how to follow through. Thank you, Silvija!
As you may have guessed from a few names above, Webhostface is a Bulgarian company, located in Plovdiv. But despite its location it has other locations worldwide. In the 1980's and 1990's when the technological revolution was taking place in nearby countries, its youth grew up learning many languages and cultures and stressing electronic communications, marketing, business and finance.
You cannot tell from phone cslls or chats alone, but this happy group is extremely versatile and fun-loving. Their motto is "Service always comes with a smiling face," and they actually live up to it! Others would do well to emulate them. They have told me more than once when I've contacted them and feared I was wearing out my welcome, "Nelson, we consider you to be one of us." I could not conceive of a higher compliment. Merry Christmas, friends, and have a joyous New Year.
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