“Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage” – Jawaharlal Nehru

One of my favorite sites is Lifehacker. Their motto is, “Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.”

From time to time, the editor, Gina Trapani, writes about productivity and finances. In this recent post she talks about quitting her day job a few years ago to become an independent contractor. She writes, “One of the hardest parts of the transition was learning how to manage my finances.”

“Without my company automatically deducting taxes and retirement contributions and injecting a set amount of money into my checking account on the same day every month, I had to take the reigns myself. At first, it wasn’t pretty.”

“By now I’ve got my system down pat. I’ve got better things to do than shuffle money around every month, so most of my financial transactions happen with minimal intervention. Everyone has their own money personality and systems they use to keep their dollars and cents in order, but I thought I’d share some of the methods I’ve developed over the years.”

Here are her four great ideas. Click here to get the full details:

1. Automatic transactions – no action required
2. Buffer accounts – to keep funds separate (e.g. account where stash the money to pay your taxes)
3. Utilizing Notifications – limits the time needed to monitor
4. Reminders – a way to manage those manual loose-ends

Money management with minimal intervention… sounds like a good plan. One of my goals for 2006 was to finally begin to pay my bills online. I know, hard to believe that I was still writing checks each month. There was a reason. Long story. See the full explanation here. But anyway, I’ve been using free bill pay at my bank for the last several months and it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I still need to automate some of those transactions like Gina, but first things first.