There’s no excuse for not examining your personal finance information! Some people are reluctant to inquire too closely into their own financial standing. We hear it all the time: “I already have a pretty good idea of where my money goes.” “I don’t have time to plan a budget.” “It’s too confusing, or time-consuming, or difficult.” And so on and so forth.
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"Never spend your money before you have it."
- Thomas Jefferson |
Not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s absolute baloney! Those tired old excuses for not taking full responsibility for your finances, just is another way of showing that you are in total and complete denial that you have a real problem on your hands. If you don’t want to examine your personal finance information, that’s your choice, but you’re never going to get much further ahead than where you are right now. In fact, you’ll continue to slide deeper into debt. If you’re serious about wanting to get out of debt, then it’s going to take some very close examination of your finances. The good news is you aren’t alone, we can help. It’s really not that hard, either. When you break it down into simple tasks, your personal finance information shouldn’t be too difficult to keep track of. To prepare your budget, simply spend a month where you write down every single penny you spend, along with every penny you earn. That will give you an accurate account of all your expenses and all your income. Why do that? Why not just sit down and guess-timate all your expenses beforehand? Because you won’t be nearly as accurate as you need to be. Sure, some things - like your mortgage payment, your utilities, and so forth -- are either fixed or pretty stable from month to month. However, it’s the little expenses that add up, and they tend to be more than you would have guessed. It’s the candy bar you grab every time you fill up the gas tank, or the actual cost of buying lunch every day. You can guess at what the monthly total is on things like that, but you’ll probably be wrong. So take a month to track what your actual expenses are. This may be a very enlightening experience for you. Armed with that knowledge, it’s very easy to go down the list and determine which expenses can be reduced or eliminated. Make a plan for yourself, with a new streamlined budget. You’ll be able to see exactly how much money you’ll be saving by adhering to the new budget, and you’ll get a sense of how soon you can be out of debt by applying that money toward your credit cards. Make no mistake that the goal, after all: to get out of debt. Sometimes people forget that. They get focused on the dreary specifics of what’s happening NOW - having to monitor their spending, coming up with budgets, organizing their personal finance information, and so forth - and they forget about WHY they’re doing They’re doing it so they can feel the joy and freedom of being debt-free! They’re doing it so they can have a sunnier, happier future! If you keep your eyes on that prize, then the mundane tasks that are required now won’t seem like such a sacrifice. Remember, each step you take will either take you further into debt, or on your way out of it. So which steps do you plan to take next?
"Credit buying is much like being drunk.
The buzz happens immediately and gives you a lift....
The hangover comes the day after.”
- Joyce Brothers |
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Debt is NOT your friend. It's not a wonderful "tool" for building wealth. That's a myth.
