PearBudget beautiful, simple budgeting. (This is our blog.)

Go to the PearBudget website »

And an update to the update

And an update to the update. (See below if you hadn’t seen the original update.)

The server is back up, but there’s an issue with our security certificate (I’ll explain). But everything’s secure … and we’re working with Media Temple to get everything resolved with the security cert.

So, hopefully you know that you should only enter your credit card in to a site when they provide you with a secure connection. Instead of seeing “http://”, you’ll see “https://” at the beginning of the address. That “s” stands for “secure.” The idea is that when you (the user) enter your data in to a site, it gets encrypted, and then it travels to the server where your credit card is processed / stored / handled, and it’s decrypted there.

A security certificate (also called an “SSL Certificate,” if you want to look up more about it) is designated as belonging to a specific site. Actually, it’s designated as belonging to a specific subdomain of a specific site (which can cause its own problems, but I don’t think those problems are ones we’re bumping up against).

Anyway, when we set up our SSL certificate at Media Temple, the registered party is a domain at Media Temple (gridserver.com). Because your browser is going to “www.pearbudget.com”, it’s expecting to see a certificate from “www.pearbudget.com”. Perfectly reasonable. But because the certificate at the site is currently for “*.gridserver.com”, your browser thinks that there might be a problem. In a good-faith effort to protect people from phishing scams, modern browsers will often put a big scary message up when a browser’s address and a security certificate don’t match up. You might have noticed one of these scary messages if you’ve tried to log in to PearBudget in the last couple of hours.

Again, we’re working to resolve the certificate mismatch. Your data is still safe, and hopefully, we’ll get it sorted out quickly, and most of you will see this note and think “what are they talking about? I haven’t seen any warning?!” We just wanted to put a note up in case you see a funky warning that suggests that the site isn’t secure.

If it looks like resolving the security certificate thing will take longer than we’d like, we’ll post another update with instructions. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

As always, thanks for your understanding and your patience. And thanks, too, to those of you who have written in / tweeted with notes of encouragement. You all are the best!

A quick update

A quick update on the server downtime from yesterday.

Our hosting company, Media Temple, reports that they’re continuing to have trouble with their servers. We’re incredibly frustrated by their poor support on this matter, and are planning on moving our hosting to a more stable provider.

We know that many of you try to do your budgeting on Sunday afternoons / evenings. We know that the first of the month is one of the key days for many of you, as you review your past month’s expenses and map out your upcoming month’s spending. Of all days for the site to have downtime, this is one of the worst.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me, at charlie@pearbudget.com. At the moment, I don’t have any solid information from Media Temple about when the site will be back up, but they are normally able to fix these issues in a matter of hours. It’s already been several hours, so hopefully it’ll be soon.

If you want to be notified when the site is back up (so you don’t need to keep checking), please send me an e-mail, and I’ll ping you when the site’s live again. I might not be able to let you know the minute it’s back up, but I’ll be monitoring the server so you won’t have to.

Once more, I want to apologize. We share your frustration. As do a number of people on Twitter. We went with Media Temple because they’ve been around for a long time, they’ve got a good reputation, and we heard from fellow web developers that they were a reliable, responsive, professional outfit. The downtime we’ve had, though, is simply unacceptable. We’re looking at our hosting options.

Again, please feel free to e-mail me if I can be any help at all. And, again, thanks for your patience.

PearBudget’s server update

PearBudget’s servers are having some trouble at the moment. We’re sorry about that! Hopefully we’ll be back up soon!

Thanks for your patience!

Budgeting tip of the day

When running errands, keep an eye on the gas prices on the way out. Note the cheapest. Get gas on the way home.

Actually, we tried doing this today, and they totally changed the price on us between the first time we passed and the second time we passed (and needed to stop for gas). They bumped it up by 12 cents or something. Curses!

But, in general, this works pretty well.

Budgeting tip of the day

You’ve checked your credit score recently? If not, www.AnnualCreditReport.com. If you pick only one, pick Equifax.

A super article from JD Roth

A super article from JD Roth (normally of Get Rich Slowly), guest-posting over at Zen Habits: 10 Essential Money Skills for a Bad Economy. He covers a wide range of good practices, like checking your credit score, opting out of junk mail, streamlining your bank accounts, and — tra la! — budgeting! (And he mentions PearBudget!)

The only critiques I have of his article are that 1) I’d put “Set Financial Goals” higher on the list (the article isn’t ordered, per se, but, to me, ‘further up on the list’ equals ‘more important,’ and I think goals are absolutely critical), and 2) I’d note that expense tracking is a key part of keeping a budget (he splits them into two discrete aspects of personal finance).

Not to nerd out too much, but on that second point (the expense tracking and budget-keeping thing), here’s my take on it:

A budget is made up of three components:

  1. a (categorized) spending plan (the future!)
  2. a (categorized) list of expenses (the past!)
  3. a statement of what’s currently available (again, by category) (the present!)

Often, when people talk about “making a budget,” they’re only referencing that first (future) element (the spending plan). Making a spending plan’s great. It’s essential.

But unless that spending plan informs your daily spending decisions, it’s not going to be terribly useful. And unless you incorporate 1) expense tracking and 2) a statement of where you stand within each category, there’s no way that your spending plan can inform your daily decisions. And, indeed, you’ll probably give up “budgeting” in frustration. I know I would (and have!).

The takeaway: A budget is more than just a spending plan. And unless you incorporate the other two pieces of the puzzle, you’re setting yourself up for failure. At PearBudget, we want you to know and love the freedom that comes from creating — and keeping — a successful budget.

Anyway, even with my budget nerd quibbles, JD’s post is great, and you should absolutely check it out: 10 Essential Money Skills for a Bad Economy. And, if you don’t know Get Rich Slowly, you should go check it out, too.

Budgeting tip of the day

You’ve used your bank’s free billpay to set up your credit cards and utility payments, right? Set those up today!

Budgeting tip of the day

Don’t “go to the mall” as a recreational activity. Purposeless window shopping leads to unnecessary purchases.

Check this out

You’ve probably seen this by now. If not, it’s really good. Check it out.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized (via Vimeo)

Having trouble accessing PearBudget?

We’ve heard from one or two users who’ve had trouble accessing their PearBudget accounts in the last day or two. We’re trying to figure out which users might be affected, so we can diagnose the problem.

If you’re having trouble accessing PearBudget (either the main site or your individual account), it would be fantastic if you could e-mail me (charlie@pearbudget.com) and let me know.

Thanks!