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A bit of maintenance coming up

At around 5pm Eastern time on Saturday, March 2nd, 2019, we’ll be taking down PearBudget while we do a bit of maintenance. We’ll bring the site back up as soon as we can, though sometimes unexpected hiccups can make these things take longer than we’d all like. We really appreciate your patience!

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A Free Year of PearBudget for Furloughed Government Employees

Hey, Charlie here. I grew up in Washington DC, with one parent who’s worked for the US Government for longer than I’ve been alive (first the National Park Service, then the Smithsonian). I have a ton of respect for the work that federal employees do, and how they’re usually the ones who get the real […]

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Why Your Emergency Fund Should Be (A Little) Hard to Reach

Apparently, 40% of Americans don’t have enough in savings to cover a $400 medical emergency. While I hope you’ve got more saved than that, that’s a great first goal if you’re looking to improve your finances. Most financial advisors recommend starting off with a $1,000 emergency fund, and then slowly building that up to cover […]

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Sparking Joy

The other night, like many of you, we were looking for something to watch on Netflix. We stumbled on Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. The Lifechanging Magic book was a hit in our house when it first came out, so we decided to give it a go. The show wasn’t bad (though it seemed to […]

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Free Tax Prep Software from the IRS

Hoo, boy. Tax season’s coming up. Photo by Ed Mitchell Good news, though: If you make under $57,000 a year (that’s after you take out retirement contributions, HSA contributions, and so on), you can get tax prep software (normally $30 – $60) for free, through the IRS! All the info on the program is online: […]

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Where Do I Enter Irregular Expenses?

Irregular expenses are entered in just like monthly expenses. When you’re planning your budget, you’ll tell PearBudget how much you’d like to assign to that category on the Plan page. (Let’s say it’s $50 towards “new lawn mower”). Over the months, as you set aside more, the amount available in “new lawn mower” will grow. […]

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If that didn’t answer your question, get in touch with us by e-mail, at help@pearbudget.com.

Backing Up … Your Gift Cards

Photo by Neff Conner Maybe you got a store gift card at Christmas, or you returned some merchandise to the store and got a card with store credit. Cards with store credit are great in lots of ways, but one of their downsides is that — unless you have a good place in your house […]

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Help Us Make PearBudget Better

The short version: Help us out by filling out a super-short survey. The slightly-longer version: Over the years, we’ve gotten some great input from users, about how we could make PearBudget better. We’ve collected lots and lots of suggestions for features that we haven’t been able to develop yet, but that we’re thinking about for […]

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Setting Up 2013 Numbers

With the new year coming, we know you’ll want to get your 2013 goals set up. These are the amounts you’d like to set aside (and spend) in your irregular categories. If you want to set up your goals for 2013, just head to pearbudget.com/set_up_2013, and you should be all set. If you want to […]

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Save for the Future By Making A Deal With Future You

“Dad! Can we go downstairs?” It was early. She wasn’t supposed to be up yet. “Why are you awake, sweetie?” “I had a bad dream and can’t sleep. Can you come downstairs with me?” “What do you want to do down there?” “Read a book.” Hard to argue with that one. And it wasn’t too […]

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