Serious Shopping Season is HERE! How to Control your Spending NOW and in the Future!
Spending money on things you ABSOLUTELY have to have is always fun….until you look at your bank account and realize what a mistake I made. I’ve done it, You’ve done it and if you say you haven’t, you’re lying to me and yourself. If you focus on your budget and what you cannot do with it, you are doomed to fail from the start. Creating a spending plan works better in many ways and one of those ways is, that it incorporates spending into the equation and lessens the pain of budgeting in the first place.
Those little plastic rectangles…Are everywhere
Everyone has a credit card or two, or five. And, therein lays the problem. Credit cards can be very dangerous even in the most frugal of hands. Listen, impulse shopping is REAL, and let me tell you, you have to be dedicated to a plan and control that frivolous spending. The best way to solve the credit card problem is to allow yourself to have one, and just one.
Pick and choose the credit card that best suits your lifestyle. If you have children, the best type of credit card to choose is probably a rewards card that offers you cashback bonuses or certificates after spending a certain amount. If you like to go to restaurants, find a card that rewards you with the same thing!
However, the best way to utilize a credit card is to keep it out of your wallet. Yes, you heard me. Keep it out of your wallet and in a lockbox somewhere. Let that credit card be for emergency purchases only. By keeping it out of your wallet, you eliminate the potential to use it on a whim. (you know those Loubi’s that went on sale today) Also, create a spending plan that allows for $50.00-$85.00 per month on the credit card and allocate those funds once per month for the purpose of paying it off.
Month-by-Month Works Best
Create a spending plan on a monthly basis. If you know that you are one month away from a major holiday, you can allocate a spending amount into that month for holiday shopping. If you are heading toward spring and you wish to allocate funds for summer vacation, incorporate that into your spending plan.
By living on a monthly budget, you alleviate the risk of allocating money for holiday shopping or a vacation and spending it on something else. Plan according to the season you are nearest. So many times, it is easy to put money into a budget and then not allocate it where it belongs. Doing a spending plan on a monthly basis helps alleviate that issue. You buy what you need for that month and spend accordingly.
Add and Subtract
Creating a spending plan that you can live with really is easy; It’s following it that is difficult. Add up all of your monthly income and subtract your monthly recurring expenses, down to the PENNY. You know, rent or mortgage, internet/cable, cell phone, food, etc.
This dollar amount is what you have left to spend. It really is that simple. While emergencies do arise, they are far and few between, but those emergencies always seem to be soooo expensive. There are ways to deal with that by increasing income and decreasing spending until that emergency boiler or car repair is paid off. There are plenty of ways to have fun at home for a few months while you are waiting to pay off that bill. I mean, we all just stayed in the house for a really long time….Binge watch your fave’s!
Once you see how much money you have coming in and how much needs to go out, you can plan to spend accordingly. I will tell you when you see that number of what you have left, you will quickly be in shock or elated because you can save. One month may be for new clothing while another may be for a family weekend getaway. It’s all in the numbers and your willpower!
Good Luck!
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