Empty Pockets? Learn How to Budget and Keep Your Cash Where it Belongs
If your pocket is empty between paydays, and the bills keep coming, it is time to take a look at your budget. Most people don’t understand that they can take control of how they spend their money.
*The first step to seeing where your money goes is to make a list of your fixed expenses, and your other expenses for the month. Fixed expenses include your car notes, insurance, mortgage, as well as utilities, credit cards, subscriptions, student loans and medical bills. Other expenses include entertainment, food, and impulse purchases.
*Tackle the fixed expenses, first. Transfer your credit card balances to a lower credit card, or take out a consolidated loan at a lower interest rate and pay the high interest credit cards off. Be sure and cut the cards up. Instead of paying for magazine subscriptions, go to the local library and spend the afternoon reading the newest publications. Most towns have the local newspaper available to read via the internet. Cancel your newspaper and read it online. Check about raising your deductible on your health, auto, and home insurance. By doing this you can save hundreds of dollars each year. Do you really need HBO, or the other movie channels? You can rent movies free at the local library, and they keep the current releases stocked. Switch long distance providers to save money on your long distance calls, or write letters and e-mail.
*Look back over the past few months and track your miscellaneous spending. You will be amazed at how much you have spent going to the movies, buying clothes, and on food. The main thing in cutting back your spending is to control indulging yourself with those impulse purchases. Instead of rewarding your kids with a treat to the ice cream parlor, why not bake cookies together, instead? Reward yourself with a paperback book, or a bubble bath, instead of a new outfit, or pair of shoes. If you have a regular family night, instead of spending all your cash at the pizza restaurant and the movie theater, why not rent a pay per view off your cable provider. You can make homemade pizza pies, all of you can watch a movie for the price of one, and the popcorn and soda’s are a lot cheaper at home than at the theater. Instead of bowling, or miniature golf, why not have a game night? Pull out those dusty games and get to playing. This saves you money as well as building a fun, family time.
*Get your grocery shopping in hand. The best way to not overspend at the grocery store is to plan out a menu in advance. Take into account what you will be doing throughout the week, how much time you will have to spend on cooking and preparation and plan your grocery list around that. It will save you from wanting to pull into a fast food restaurant if you know that you have something at home than can be ready in 10 minutes.
*Clothes are one of the biggest expenses in the family budget. The newest trend in clothing is to shop at the thrift stores. Goodwill and The Salvation Army are good resources and becoming very popular among the teen-age crowd. Most people donate their clothes to these places for tax write offs and you can stumble across name brand clothes that still have the tags on them. Once again, you must resist the impulse buying, especially when you see things that are cheap. Only purchase what you came into the thrift store to get. Another way to save on clothes is to by them ahead of time. Buy next years summer clothes at the beginning of winter when all the summer merchandise is going on sale at the store. It is also a good idea to invest in good quality clothing. If your kids are hard on shoes, it is more practical to buy a pair of sneakers for $50.00 than to buy a pair of $15.00 shoes three or four times within a few months.
*Get rid of the clutter and have a rummage sale. You would be surprised how much money you can make, and how much nicer your home will feel if you downsize.
*Start making a point to save at least 8% of your income each pay check for an emergency fund.
If your debt is still overwhelming you, check into debt management resources that are available in your area, and on the web. Sometimes you can avoid the disaster of bankruptcy. The most important thing is to take it day by day, and ask yourself if what you are getting ready to
