The most basic money management principle is to, well, have a budget - plan and track your spending, and adjust as needed.

But most of us don’t. To address this problem, a couple named Sarah and Charlie created a spreadsheet that became so popular they turned it into a web application.

The basics are there - enter your income and expenses, track by category, and adjust as needed. No graphs, bank account synch, or other fancy stuff. Just a clean, elegant interface to do the basics of budgeting.

Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing says:

Keeping track of my expenses was one of my resolutions this year. I’ve been using a terrific web-based application called PearBudget to help me keep my promise to myself. PearBudget is streamlined, lightweight, and elegant, and because it’s web-based, I can use my iPhone to enter receipts as soon as I get them.

It’s a truly beautiful app. You can try it for 30 days for free; after that it’s $3 a month. #

I use a spreadsheet as my checkbook register, so I’m not sure if I’ll duplicate this effort on PearBudget, but if you’re not currently tracking how you spend your money, PearBudget might be a good place to start.