Have gratitude for the resources: Write down five things about your financial life that you're grateful for. Glad to get paid weekly? Grateful to be able to pay your child care? Happy you bought at house?
Gather evidence: Collect your pay stubs to see how much income you have. Go through all your bills to compute your monthly expenses. How much money do you spend each month?
Make a plan: Using the above information, make a monthly budget. Be sure it includes savings, even if it's only 5 percent of your monthly income.
Enlist buddy support: Get your spouse or best friend to agree to help you stick to your plan.
Conduct plastic surgery: To avoid credit card usage, determine which bills you will pay by check. Pay all other expenses with cash.
Divvy it up: Divide cash expenses into four envelopes, one for each week foe the month. When the envelop is empty, you're finished spending for that week.
Write it down: Get a small notebook. Each day, write down purchases, even if it costs less than a dollar, to see where your money is going. Don't procrastinate.
How to jump start your savings:
- Make sure that part of your budget includes a savings account deposit. Even if it is not very much, try to put something away each month.
- Consider experimenting with living as frugally as possible for a month or two. Any money that does not go to basic needs for the month can go into your savings account. Cut anything out of your life that is not completely necessary. That could mean no more eating out, no coffees out, no entertainment, finding a carpool to get to work, or even taking the bus.
- Work with your employer to set up an automatic deduction to your savings account from your paycheck each month. This will force you to save with each paycheck you receive.
- Are you expecting a tax return this year? If so, you can request that it be automatically deposited into your savings account.
- Do you have a lot of items you no longer use lying around the house? Use the Internet to sell some of those unwanted items, or consider having a garage sale. Any proceeds can go directly into your savings account.
- Have any spare time on the weekends or weeknights? Consider getting a second job. Any income from that job can go directly to the savings account.
- If you are up for a raise soon, put that extra money into a savings account once you receive it.
Dig yourself out of debt.
It's hard to feel strong, healthy, and happy--and sometimes to even sleep at night--when you're buried under a mountain of debt. Most of us have been there, done that. You can become debt-free; so many have and are a living, breathing testament.
Who doesn't hate bills? Tired of feeling bad about not being able to pay them? Then it's time to focus on a goal of becoming debt-free with the same fervor you use for everything else you are successful at: total determination. Get fierce! First, stop buying so much stuff. Don't totally deny yourself everything, don't deny yourself of a book or magazine (especially if it's on financial literacy). Consolidate monthly payments or set up a pay your bill day of the month, one day. Cut up credit cards, and start targeting one bill to pay each off, one at a time, starting with the lowest balance first. It may help to earmark paychecks, bonuses, and monetary gifts for certain bills. Once you pay off your first bill, you will feel the addiction of paying off your debt, setting a goal and reaching it!
If you're under a mountain of debt and feel you need professional help, you can locate credit counseling and debtor education information on the US Trustee Program website at https://www.justice.gov/ust/credit-counseling-debtor-education-information.
For this post, some excerpts were used from Oliver, Stephanie Strokes, "Daily cornbread," 1999 and https://www.justice.gov/ust/credit-counseling-debtor-education-information 03/13/2018.
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