Personal finance management might mean sacrifice, but it will all be worth it. Every little bit of effort will help you to win again. Actively managing your money sounds like a chore. “Management”, Ugh! Having to manage things is never fun. The managers are the ones who have to do all the hard work, right?
"Before borrowing money from a friend,
decide which you need most.”
- American Proverb |
Well, it’s true, to an extent. Controlling your personal finances does require some concentrated effort at first. Yet it’s also true that nothing worthwhile is ever easy. In the end, though, the hard part of personal finance management will all be worth it. Guaranteed! To get out of debt and stay that way is going to take some planning. (“Planning”, another word that requires work?) First you need to track your daily expenses for a month, writing down every single penny you spend, as well as every single cent of income you earn. Then you must write down all your monthly expenses as they actually are, while looking for ways to reduce or eliminate them. Yes, this takes time, and sticking to your newly streamlined budget takes willpower. Perhaps you’ve added it up and discovered that you spend about $100 a month at the movies? Since you want to aggressively pay off your debts, you’ve decided to reduce that figure to $20. (You could probably manage that number simply by not buying popcorn!) Maybe your gym membership of $30 a month just isn’t worth it. That’s $30 that could be applied to your debts. Maybe you need to cancel the newspaper subscription and read the paper for free online? These are all small sacrifices, and sacrifices are never fun, but together they add up to make a very positive difference in your financial situation. Remember, the key to personal finance management is keeping your eye on the prize. You want to be debt-free, completely unburdened by creditors. Keep remembering how sweet that will taste, how wonderful it will be to be free once and for all. Aren’t some months of sacrifice worth it in the long run? Once you have a budget in place, and once you’re able to live on it for a few months, you’ll find it’s not as hard as you thought it would be. Humans are remarkably adaptable. Especially when you see the quick results you can achieve. Before long, you won’t even miss those daily Starbucks lattes, or the premium channels on your cable system, or whatever else you gave up for the greater good. It’s important to follow the process of personal finance management. You can’t just wake up one day and say, “From now on, I’m going to work on being debt-free!” and that’s all there is to it. Yes, that’s a good first step, you have to truly WANT to do whatever is necessary in order to get out of debt. You still have to do the nuts and bolts of planning a budget, analyzing your expenses, etc. Follow the process and stick to your budget, and in the end you’ll be so glad you did.
"He that is of the opinion money will do everything
may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”
- Benjamin Franklin |
|
Debt is NOT your friend. It's not a wonderful "tool" for building wealth. That's a myth.
