Living with your means involves cutting expenses
so that there is money left over at the end of the
month and expenses do not exceed income. Careful
budgeting can help one to enjoy the benefits of
living within your means, including reduced
interest rate charges and the ability to save
money for emergencies or special purchases.

The cornerstone of living within your means is
to develop a budget plan. You must know how much
money you are spending every month on all of your
expenses in order to determine where you may be
able to save money. Write down all of your bills,
along with all of the miscellaneous purchases that
you make every month and tally them.

Avoiding the dangers of unconscious spending can
also help you to live within your means. Many
people spend far more money than they realize on
this type of spending. These are the purchases
that that may be small in nature but add up over
time. Those impulsive buys while waiting in line,
for example, can often add up to far more money
than you might realize.

In addition, make sure you keep an eye out for fees
such as ATM fees, that commonly add up on a monthly
basis. Keep track of such fees as well as all of your
expenses. Even a small notebook or journal that you
can slip into your pocket or purse is a good way to
keep up with such expenses. Do this for about a month so
that you have a clear idea of where your money is going.

Once you know where your money is going you can then
begin working towards setting up a savings fund.
This is the second hallmark of living within your
means. When you do not have money set aside and
emergencies strike, you often feel forced to charge
items and that can make it even more difficult to live
within your means. The general rule of thumb is that
you should have a minimum of 10% of your monthly gross
income set aside for emergencies. It is simply much
smarter financially to save money for expenses or even
for special purchases than to make them by credit card.

Keep in mind that this is in addition to any funds you
may have set aside for retirement or for college savings.
The more money you are able to save now, the less you
will have to borrow later and the better you will be
able to live within your means.

Remember that even when you receive what seems like a
good rate on a credit card, it is still not free money.
You must still pay above and beyond the purchase cost
for any item you charge because of interest payments.
Although credit cards can be convenient, they can
also be expensive. The longer it takes you to pay
off a credit card, the more money you will spend over
the long run. As a result, a pizza that you charged
for $20 could end up costing you $100 or more if you
make only the minimum monthly payments and it takes
you years to pay off that bill.

The best method is to make sure that you pay for
everything you buy with cash rather than credit.
While that is not always possible, it is best to
try to stick to that goal as closely as possible.
When you must charge something on a credit card,
make a concentrated effort to pay more than the
minimum monthly payment every month. Even better,
try to pay off your credit card balance every month.
Avoid carrying more than one credit card balance
at a time to prevent balances from growing out of
control and reaching a point where you have a
difficult time making the payments.

Avoiding the rental of products can also help you
to live within your means as well. Renting an
appliance can seem like a good idea at first
because the weekly rental rates are often cheap.
Rental agreements are usually often attractive to
individuals without the best credit because no
credit checks are required for renting. Once you
add up the costs of all those weekly rental fees,
it becomes apparent that renting something actually
costs much more money than just waiting until you
can purchase it using cash.

If you find that your debt level has spiraled to
the point that you are no longer able to make your
minimum monthly payments and set aside money for
savings, consider investigating a consumer credit
counseling service to help you get matters under
control. These programs can help you to devise a
realistic repayment plan that is within your ability
to pay and offers you a way to begin paying down
your bills.

About the author:

Author: David Beart

David Beart runs the Professors House. This site contains a wealth of information about money management, raising children and relationships.

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Now that times are tough for those that once had a comfortable
living, you can imagine how hard things are for many families
that always have to live paycheck to paycheck. They are the ones
that are hurting the most and could use some extra help. That
is when good planning and budgeting are of the most importance,
though these are things that should be practiced all of the
time. There are some strategies that can make a huge difference
in the family comfort level.

Planning and budgeting comes with knowing exactly
what you have coming into the house each week. If
you have two jobs, you should estimate your weekly
income from each. If it is easier for you, you can
decide how much you have coming in for a month

at a time. When you add that up as part of your planning and budgeting,
you then know what you have to work with, and you can even see what
you can expect your total to be when the year comes to a close. You may
be surprised with what your total comes out to be when you are all done.

Once you have that done, you can move on to the part of planning
and budgeting that revolves around how much you have going out.
This is when things can get muddy because we often spend money
when we do not realize that we are doing so. You can probably
rattle off your biggest expenses in planning and budgeting like
rent or mortgage, average electric and heat bills, and your
cable, phone, and/or internet. However, it could be the smaller
things that are hitting you the hardest.

If you smoke, you know that this could be eating into money you
could be using for something else. Add it up and see. If you go
out to eat a lot, you could be spending more money than you
think you are. You can also include things like your morning
coffee in your planning and budgeting. Consider all of your
little expenditures while you add up what is going out of your
income. It is essential to get the totals right with this part
of planning and budgeting. Don’t forget gas, groceries, daycare,
car and home maintenance, magazine subscriptions, and all other
expenses.

Once you have all of the numbers together, you can then think
about what you can get rid of and what you have to keep paying.
If you have a part time job but daycare is more than what you
bring in, it’s not worth it. You have to find something better
or stay home. It won’t seem like it, but it will be saving money
in the short term. Then re-evaluate your planning and budgeting
scheme to see what is plausible and what you have to do next to
make things better for your family budget.

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Shopping on a monthly budget is not a Herculean task, if planned
well in advance. Additionally, with the advent of online
shopping, there are many tips and tricks that you can use to
convert the dreaded monthly shopping into a pleasurable
experience. Use these simple steps to learn how to shop smart
and within your budget.

STEP 1 – The first step in shopping is to create a monthly
shopping list. For most of us it includes everyday grocery
requirements and a few other requirements like say, an
electronic gadget or a new dress for a party, etc. Budget your
next month expenses this month itself to make provisions for all
those extra items you want to buy.

STEP 2 – The next step is to check online shopping sites. Use an
online shopping guide that allows the user to query about a product
and, in turn the site offers user comments and shopping reviews
which can be a very reliable source of information for the buyer.
Using these Q&A sites, you can get ample information on where a
particular product is sold, sites where discounts are offered,
how many to buy to avail an offer, and other technical details
of the product, if needed.

STEP 3 – Once you know where to make the purchase, check out
various shopping sites where the products you want to purchase
are available. Check if they accept coupons and get information
on what their current deals are. Compare at least three to four
sites before you drill down to one. Choose only the required
number of products, unless the offer is valid only for bulk
purchases. One important thing to note here is that sometimes
prices are low even on a non-sale day because some sites raise
prices on offer days. Use good price comparison tools to
evaluate the best available offer on the product at that point
in time.

STEP 4 – The next step is to ensure that you make a secure
online transaction. Private credit information should not be
shared at any cost. Remember to use encrypted signatures and
secure sites to protect your online fund transfers.

STEP 5 – The last step is when the goods are delivered at your
doorstep. Start your next budgeting the minute you know how much
has been restocked and for how long. Some items like batteries,
detergents or washing liquids may last for more than a month and
need not be included in the next immediate shopping list.
Instead of working out a home budget at the end of the month
start slowly from the very beginning to track your
product/provisions usage.

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Money is a critical component in every person’s life. The
handling of money requires delicate care because there are just
too many demands in our lives that require us to part with
money, but the fact is we have a limited amount of it. The
measure of your financial success lies in your ability to save.
Saving enables wealth accumulation and thus, the ability to
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Differentiate “need” and “want” clearly. Many people mistake a
want for a need and the consequences are often obvious; they
claim not knowing where their money went at the end of the day.
Yes, you will need food; but do you need to indulge in that
expensive steak? Allocate a monthly amount to save aside. Assume
that this saving is your future investment and should never be
moved unless of emergency. Again, what constitutes emergency
varies from one person to another. Essentially, you need high
self-discipline to do well in managing your savings.

You should also practice prudent shopping, creating a shopping
list to prevent impulse purchases. With the abundance of healthy
food choice available, there is no excuse for you to consume
unhealthy food products because you can get better choices with
the same amount of money. Learn to cut back on convenience
products – they are just depleting your financial resources
without a real cause. When shopping, always care to find out the
price of products and make comparison. You can also learn to
challenge yourself to create your own gifts and DIY products.

These money saving tips are basic ideas. You should cultivate a
healthy money saving habit to enable you to live a healthier and
better lifestyle.

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I believe the most important first step is
to learn to live within your income. In
today’s society, this may seem like a unique
concept. It didn’t used to be that way..
In fact, prior to the advent of credit cards
in the 1950s, living within one’s income was
not unusual. About the only credit available
was a home mortgage and a car loan. The terms
of these loans weren’t as liberal as today.
There was no 30-year mortgage. You couldn’t
finance a car for more than three years. Sure
there were store charges, but they weren’t
revolving charges. They had to be paid for
at the end of the month.

Homeowners made do with what they had.
Appliances, cars, etc., were repaired rather
than replaced. If they couldn’t afford to
buy what they needed or wanted, they waited
until they could. Many Americans think only
of the present rather than their future needs
when spending their income. The feeling is
if we can pay our debt service each month on
time everything is fine. So we continue to
create new debt until we can’t afford any
more debt. Unfortunately, some go past this
point without a thought of the consequences
until we are in deep trouble.

Most consumers don’t realize is by having
credit debt, including a mortgage, they are
seriously jeopardizing their ability to create
retirement wealth. The fact is many Americans
are only two paychecks away from financial
failure because of their spending habits.

The next step is to pay yourself first by
paying off all your debts, including your
mortgage, before investing or even saving.
This is probably an unfathomable concept to
a financial planner. Paying off a credit card
with a 15% APR is the same as receiving an
equivalent return of 15% from an investment.
In addition, this return is guaranteed. Ask
your stockbroker to insure the percentage of
return on any stock he recommends.

Using the model of the average American family
that I use in my seminars, I show that this
family would realize a 37.13% return on their
money by investing in their debt of $169,340
before any other type of investment.

Furthermore, let’s assume this same family
invests 10% of their monthly gross income
($427) to eliminate their debts first
rather than investing it in an investment
vehicle yielding a 10% return. The long term
result by investing in their debts first is
they would build a retirement nest egg of
1.8 million dollars over the same period it
would have taken them to pay off their
mortgage in the normal way. The person who
invests first would accumulate about 600
thousand dollars, 1.2 million dollars less.
Both families established a six month
contingency fund.

After all your debts are eliminated, the
money you were using to pay your debts is
now available for any purpose you choose.
To become debt free can take from 5 to 10
years, many years before the time required
to pay off the mortgage alone. What also is
important to understand is that by freeing
yourself from debt you are not at risk to
financial misfortunes such as a loss of income.
You probably could survive on unemployment
compensation if necessary or savings.

The last step is to create wealth by investing
your money in low risk investments over a long
period of time. A debt free 60-year-old may
have insufficient time to build real wealth.

However, without debt even the 60-year-old still
can enjoy a debt free lifestyle. On the other hand,
a young person could conceivably amass over
$1,000,000 in retirement wealth. One million
dollars is the nest egg amount USA Today said
that the average baby boomer earning $50,000
annually today will need to retire to enjoy
the same lifestyle they had before retirement.

I recommend you invest for the long term using
dollar cost averaging. This means you invest
the same amount of money each month no matter
if stocks are rising or falling. It may be wise
to invest in an indexed mutual fund such as the
Standard & Poors 500 which usually has a higher
return than stocks that you might choose.

My purpose is not to give investment advice since
that isn’t my area of expertise. What I’m attempting
to do is provide some basic thoughts so you don’t
have to become an investment wizard.

The return by following these three steps will
astonish you.

Think about how much extra income you would have
when you have eliminated your debt payments. I
suggest you add up the amount of money you spend
each month on debt payments. This exercise might
encourage you to really consider a debt free
lifestyle. Without debts your life could be be
less stressful. Your marriage and family life
might be more enjoyable. You then could build
wealth for a happy, comfortable lifestyle.

Begin now then to eliminate all of your debts
before saving or investing. Then create a nice
retirement nest egg by investing the money you
were putting towards debt payments in conservative,
low risk investment stocks, bonds, etc.

Don’t forget most Americans believe that “everything
will just work out.” It doesn’t happen that way.
It’s up to you take action to build real wealth and
to achieve financial freedom.

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The second group of expenses you need to add to your monthly
budget is your utility expenses. Our utilities are a priority
because let’s face it, it’s hard to function without basic
necessities like lights and water. By adding this to your
monthly budget, you can see for instance how much you are
spending on your electric bill and possibly make some lifestyle
changes, as well as, energy-saving changes that would help you
to save money in this area of your budget.

The first part of budgeting your utilities is electricity.
Your electric bill will include the amount of energy your
family has used over a month time period and will possibly
include the electricity usage on your well, if you have a well
as your primary source of water. You should figure high on this
number since electric companies are always raising their rates,
and different seasons may cause you to use more energy.
By getting this amount down on paper, you will be able to
see how much you are spending, and it may cause you to make
some changes that would save you money on your electric bill
such as taking shorter showers or replacing your light bulbs
with a more energy efficient light bulb. It could even cause
you to go as far as replacing your windows because while
replacing your windows may be expensive now, it could save
you a lot of money in the long run. Plus, there is that new
tax credit available for making your home more energy
efficient. You could look into that as an incentive to not only
making your home more energy efficient but also saving you
money on your energy bill.

If you rent or own a home inside the city limits, then you most
likely will need to include water/sewer on your monthly budget
because those will not be included in your monthly electric bill.
This is usually a separate bill you will receive from the city
that charges you to use the city’s water and sewage systems.
This bill won’t be as high as your electric bill, but you should
still figure high on your budget.

If you don’t have all electric appliances, and some of your
appliances run on propane, then you need to include
natural gas on your monthly utilities budget. While you may not
fill up your propane tank every month, it is important to
include this on your monthly budget as a way of saving money for
when you do have to fill it up. Propane prices fluctuate more
that electricity prices, so it’s important to keep tabs on what
the going rate is and fill up when it’s cheap even if you don’t
need much. This will always save you money in the long run.
Another way to keep your propane bill from breaking the bank
every three months or so is to put your name on your propane
company’s list of tanks they fill up monthly. This may not save
you money, but it may help save you from having to sacrifice to
fill it up when it’s completely empty. If you choose to go this
route, then it is extremely important to figure this into your
monthly budget and figure high to accommodate propane price
fluctuation.

The last item on your utilities budget is your phone bill.
This should include both your landline and cell phone bills
if you have both. Unless you have your phone bill on
a pro-rated plan such as unlimited long distance, then it will
most likely vary from month to month. So, as always, you should
figure a higher amount on this portion of your budget to be
safe. If you feel like you are spending too much money in this
area of your budget, a suggestion would be to call your phone
company and see what they can do for you to help you save money
on your monthly bill. This may be lessening the amount of
minutes you pay for on your cell phone or getting unlimited long
distance added to your land line service.

Your utilities are a vital part of your monthly budget, but
unlike your mortgage/home expense part of your budget, this is
an area where you can usually save money by simply making a
change whether that is to take shorter showers or talk less on
your phone. You really do have more control over this area of
your budget than you may think.

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Bankruptcy is accepted to be a feasible, viable and very real
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Declaring personal bankruptcy is an opportunity to escape to
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7 or 13, you could have most or even all of your debts
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it is the right move for you, you should consider the
following:

Firstly, not all debts can be cleared.

Bankruptcy will be visible on your record for around
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We have been accustomed to the so-called ‘good life’ for so long
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pay the – bill this month.” Well, don’t feel like you’re the
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everyone experiences the want for more. It is an intrinsic part
of our ego to constantly desire bigger and better things.
Houses, ‘conveniently’ fall under that category. Similar to
cars, people are excited and thrive off of possessing large
homes. To some, it can be perceived as a wealth indicator or
good financial standings, which is something that (in general)
America has somehow come to idolize. What ever happened to the
comfort in simply having a sturdy roof and a quiet place to
rest? Nice homes don’t necessarily have to be mansions. However,
one of the leading culprits in this gigantic mess is individual
people and their desire to buy homes way beyond their price
range.

If people were content to live in something they could afford
and not worry about how the size of their house reflected on
their status in society…we might not be in such a predicament.
Regardless, we are now faced with an economic and financial
challenge and must rise to the occasion. So finding ways to save
on small things in everyday situations will help people live a
humble existence and restore balance to their lives. Preparation
is the next essential step in the restoration process. Without
planning, we will have no way to track our spending habits and
identify unnecessary purchases.

First and foremost, let’s tackle household items and chores.
Look for ways to make particular items last longer. Instead of
using two full caps in the wash load, use one and a half. If you
typically use a large amount of dishwashing detergent, put a few
sprays of Clorox in the dishwasher and only use a half of the
amount you would normally use. Next, get to saving on groceries.
Make a list and stick to it as much as possible. When you go to
the grocery store, only visit the aisles that you really need to
get things from. Try getting a cookbook and going through most
of the recipes with family or friends. This should keep you from
eating out too much. When it comes to traveling, try to scale
the internet for the best possible deals you can find. Also,
instead of taking lengthy trips overseas, consider taking local
vacations that are split into a few short breaks.

A few more suggestions could be cutting back on dining out or
going to expensive events. Look for free concerts and
performances going on in your area that offer a social
atmosphere at a discounted price. There are plenty of people in
your community that are looking for ways to be more cost
effective. But planning trips to the grocery store and buying
generic brands can also help tremendously. It’s time to rethink
the way we spend, understand, and live!

About the author:

Author: Stan Antonuk
Love writing and hanging with my kids!

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Thrifty Living ? How can I do that ? –

Thrifty Living: Be Thrifty, Make A Budget. Learn How To Track Your Spending

At some point in our lives, most of us will have to deal with
debt. Managing debt can be difficult, particularly when it comes
to making compromises. Deciding which debts need addressing
first, or how much money you can realistically afford to put
aside for other expenses, can be confusing.

Here are a few tips on improving your debt management skills:

1.      Assess your priorities. The first thing you should do is
assess your financial situation and work out which of your debts
carry the most severe consequences if you fail to pay them
(priority debts, such as mortgage/rent & secured debt
repayments) – and which debts are less important (non-priority
debts, such as credit cards and other forms of unsecured credit).

In general, it’s most important to make sure you make repayments
to your secured debts, because failing to do so could result in
severe consequences, such as your home being repossessed.

2.      Create a budget. Creating a budget is one of the best ways
you can improve your debt management skills. This can help you
make sure you have enough money left for all your financial
commitments every month. Budgeting is all about understanding
and controlling your finances – you will be able to see exactly
how much money you are spending each month, which means you
should be able to see where you can make cut-backs.

3.      Speak to a professional debt adviser. If you’re finding it
hard to improve your debt management skills on your own, you
should speak to a professional debt adviser who can talk you
through your situation and advise you on the best course of
action for you to take – so you can clear your debts in a
realistic, affordable way.

About the author:

Author: Owen Smith
For more information on financial support options, see my author area.

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