10 Easy Steps For Getting A Grip On Your Money
By Kim Nesbit
Good when you have it, not so good when you don’t. Alot of young people (and adults too, if you get right down to it) don’t know how to manage their money very well. Schools don’t really teach young people how to earn money, what to do with it once they get some, and how to spend and save it wisely.
A quick and easy way of managing your money involves a calendar, your checkbook, and a calculator. Pick 2 days each month for paying bills. Hint: It should be about 10 days before your bills are due – mail systems and mail handling time. If you pay electronically, you should still leave a couple of days for processing.
1. Sit in a comfy chair. Get some snacks and a drink (you are going to be here for a little while).
2. On the calendar, write out everything that you know is due this month and how much is due. Remember, 10 days earlier than due day. You might also want to put in some money for food. Pay everyone back that you have borrowed from.
3. Add up how much you owe. Now ask yourself- Do I have enough? If yes, write out the checks, send them off and repeat next month.
4. The hard part is when you don’t have enough. Now you have to make some decisions.
5. Ponder the consequences of not paying each bill. Some things you need and some things are just stuff you want.
A cellphone and cable tv is not a need! Plugging a wall phone (the one with a cord) into a jack that has had service before, will allow you to access 911 even if the phone service is turned off.
6. Try to cover rent, electricity, transportation costs (to get you to your j-o-b), day care bill, the kids’ expenses, and food. If you still don’t have enough to cover these consider a second j-o-b, moving back with the parent(s), getting a housemate and a wide variety of other options because now its time to come to terms with what you have to do not what you want to do. This is the subject of a whole different article so stay tuned.
7. Hopefully you have gotten through this month with a couple of bucks left over, at least on paper. Now you need an education. For one week, write down or keep track of every single penny you spend.
8. Done? Good. Now really look at how you spend your money. How many coffee’s did you buy? How many times did you eat out? Do you smoke? How much is that these days? Now make some more decisions about your finances. That wasn’t so bad was it?
9. Right down one money goal you want to accomplish in the next 12 months. Is it realistic? Now on your calendar, on the top- write down how much you are supposed to saved each month (divide the total you want to save by 12). So if you want to have $1200 in the next 12 months, the first month you should have $100, second month $200 and so on. Helpful hints: Always pay yourself first (make sure you save this amount of money each month) and don’t carry cash- its way to easy to spend that $5 in your pocket than it is to trot right over to the ATM machine and pay the $2 fee in addition to the $5 you need so you can drive through Starbuck’s on the way to work.
10. There is a very good online training course that really goes into depth about money management and money planning. It is free and it will give you a cool certificate when you are done.
Go to this link to check it out: FDIC Money Smart
http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/mscbi/mscbi.html
Good luck. You are on the way to taking control of your money. Thanks for reading.
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