Buying Things to "Help" Your Finances

Wait, what?
Is...is that a thing?

Apparently it is.
I mean, it has been for years, sure. And with seeing so much from the "planner community" it's coming to attention more and more. There are inserts or printables or booklets that you can buy to help you get your finances in order.

Which, to me, is just silly.
Especially when these things that you are buying aren't actually helping you in any way, beyond having a space to write down numbers.

Now, if there was some awesome advice or motivation to keep up on saving or paying off debt, then it would be a different story. But that's not the case. It's just a spreadsheet. That anyone can draw out on paper.

Yes, the versions you can buy are prettier. Yes, they save you the effort of doing the work yourself.

But that's kind of the point of needing to get your finances in order - you have to do the work yourself. There is no magical piece of paper that will get you "in the mood" to get your finances in order, unless you already have that desire. And if you already have that, the way or place you track things shouldn't need to be anything fancy. Nor should it be something to line someone else's pocket book.

If you really need a pretty insert to get on top of your money, are you sure you're actually interested in that endeavor? If you really can't use a pen and a ruler to make a spreadsheet of your own (or a computer program, even!), how can you expect to find the perfect insert - you're the one who knows your finances and what you need to keep track of, after all.

I'm not saying it's wrong. Because it's not. We all love pretty paper and we all have bits of laziness (I will be the first to own up to that). But at what point does it no longer make sense? These inserts are costing you, what, at least 5$. Then shipping, for a pre-printed insert or planner pages, is probably 2$. That's 7$ you could have saved - or had an awesome evening at Taco Bell.
Of course these numbers are me just pulling things from what I would expect (since the ones that I saw this morning that got me to thinking actually cost 13$, I don't even want to talk about that!). But the idea is you just spent money to help you save money...when you don't need the item you just bought in the first place.

Maybe I'm running myself in circles over this, but I seriously just don't get it.
Write your expenses, your income, your debt, and your plan. Use whatever paper you want. Use all the fonts and colors and stickers you want - but stuff you already have. Find free printables, edit them (for your own personal use, of course), and get to crackin'. Don't expect something you buy from someone to be the end-all-be-all of getting your finances in order.

That motivation has to be all you. Not based on pretty paper.

~Havok