My coworker & I were discussing money and how easy it is to not save because 'there's no money left'. How many of us have fallen into that trap? If I had to pinpoint the primary reason that until taking Dave Ramsey's class I never saved money, it would be that 'there was never any left'.
The problem with putting it that way, is the lack of ownership. The reason we have no money left is because we don't have a plan, guildlines, a cut off number. Hince: budget. If you plan how much money you are allowed to spend per month in catagories, then you plan to have money to save. Also, MOST finance professional's will tell you the only way to get ahead financially is to quit waiting til the end to pay yourself and start paying yourself first! Personally I've learned to do it this way...I tithe (give to my church) first, pay myself (save), and then I use the rest of what I have from that paycheck to filter through catagories such as: living (rent), car insurance, saving for my next car, haircuts & facials, etc.
Much like getting the laundry done or picking up a wedding present, if you don't make plans to do so - 'shockingly' you don't get it done. Don't allow your money to slip through your fingers!
Now, some of you may not have the time (right now) or the money perhaps to take a finance class. So, I wanted to offer a little freebie help. You can send your thank you's to Kiplinger.com for providing this great FREE household budget tool.
I'm a subscriber to Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine. I signed up with them shortly after reading 'The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke' at the beginning of the year. Once I got the ball rolling with my finances, it felt good to finally understand money. I got thirsty for more information. Kiplingers has provided me great information about investments, mutual funds, the best banks, credit cards, etc. I've even begun to follow them on Twitter for daily tidbits.
I know that it's overwelming to think about budgeting, especially when spending money is so much more fun. But I promise, once you start building good habits - it gets easier!
Want more resources? I've turned to these experts for help to kicking my shopping habits and start being the master of my own financial destiny:
2 comments:
Starting 01/01/2010 I will use ALL of my extra $$ to pay off the credit card debt that I accumulated in 2009. Mark my words - I WILL NOT buy unnecessary items in 2010. I WILL of course enjoy myself, but not with credit cards! And...this weekend I will find the Suze Orman book because I totally need to read that! Sometimes we need to fall down to get back up ya know, we need to realize just how ridiculous our spending habits are before we can then accept that we need to change & I've hit that point. Unless I win the lotto (which I doubt because I don't play the lotto) my spending habits are going to change drastically in 2010!
So proud of you.
I think you'll love Suze. She has a great sense of humor and she encourages having fun while you're young but taking care of business. SO our style. : ]
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