There is inflation every year. You cannot stop an increasing in
living expenses as prices of consumer goods increasing all the
time. Saving money becomes an extremely difficult task to do.
Here are some solutions for saving a little so that you can
still meet your needs and still find ways to trim off a little
for the future.
1. Budget - Get one and stick with it! And set aside at least a
small portion for savings while you're at it; savings for your
future, your retirement, your education, your vacation,
whatever. Head to your local office supply store for planning
workbooks or budget sheets to use. Or head to your favorite
search engine and type in, "budget planning" for hundreds of
sites with articles, free downloads, tips, ebooks and other
resources to help with your budget setup and follow up.
2. Plan Ahead - Make sure to plan for emergencies and the
unexpected, like an appliance break down or garage door
malfunction. Even if you can only set aside $50 or so each
monthly, place it in an account and earmark it for this
"Miscellaneous" fund. Then when things go wrong, and they will -
nothing's perfect - you'll be better prepared.
3. Non Monthly Items - Work out a monthly payment for items that
you don't pay monthly and set this up in your regular monthly
budget. For example, for items like annual home owner or renter
insurance, quarterly water bills and automobile insurance
payments and annual trash bills, take the amounts and determine
what they would be monthly. Then list the items on your budget
log and pull these amounts aside, saving them in your account
for those purposes. This way, when the bills hit, you won't be
caught off guard and have to scrounge for the payments.
What works well, instead of handling multiple savings accounts
for each company owed, is to use index cards and one savings
account. Create one index card for each bill. Then simply log
the amount you're setting aside on the card and deposit it into
your savings account. Keep the index cards with your savings
passbook to remind you what the balance covers. The total of all
your index cards should equal the balance in your savings
account. (Make sure to create an index card for your regular
funds that you are saving each month in step one above and a
card for your Miscellaneous fund in step two above).
So next time you get paid, take three giant steps forward. Grab
your index cards, follow your budget and invest in yourself and
your future. Get a grip on your money handling.
About the author:
Mary Williams maintains many websites about billing, including
Billing Service
Secrets,
Billing Software
Secrets ,and
Billings Gazette.
