My interest in personal finance is rooted in my experience with trying to manage my income to support a growing family. In 1975 I had an epiphany that what I was doing on scratch paper twice a month could be formalized to organize and simplify how I handled our finances. Over the 45 or so years since that original "ah-ha" moment, I have experimented with and expanded upon the original manual process I began using. In 2000 I started work on a software application which has now become A Real Budget. Users of this new approach to budgeting everyday money have been amazed at their change for the better in how they view and manage their money.