Guess what, the government has recently determined that we are now officially in a recession. Like those of us trying to eke out a living weren't already aware of that fact. What's scary is that we are faced with an uncertain financial climate for some time to come.
This makes now more than ever an important time to learn about stretching money. But not just save it, make each dollar stretch further than ever before. Most Americans don't realize where their money is going. We often end up running out of money before we run out of month. So, here are a few tips to take some of the stress of money out of your life.
The first most important step is determining exactly where your money is going now. For just one month track where your money goes. Try to track the expenses in such a way that you can tell what portion of your income is required for basic fixed expenses and what portion goes to variable expenses.
Fixed expenses would include expenses that are required to cover your very basic needs. That would be basic food, shelter, and only required monthly bills like utility bills to have heat and water. Variable Expenses would include the expenses where you have some influence over how much is spent, things like cable cell phones, newer car, expensive dinners.
Most Americans also have a nasty habit of allowing whatever expenses we have to expand till it matches whatever income we earn. In reality almost all our expenses are variable and we have some control over them.
Lets look at a few examples:
Television: For $50 or so you can get an old used television that receives the free over the air signals. Have a little more money and you'll want a bigger TV with a better picture. More money and you'll probably want cable or satellite to get more channels. More money and you'll want yet a bigger TV, maybe a big screen plasma. Then don't forget the add-ons. DVD player, Tivo or DVR Box.
Internet Access: You can go to a library or most coffee shops, even many McDonalds have free wi-fi. To have access at home you can use dial up for $20 a month. But have a little more money and we'll want high speed access at home so we can download movies for our big screen TV.
Food: If we shop carefully we can get bargains that will extend our food dollar and cook at home. But have a little extra and the first thing we want is to eat out. The more we make the more we tend to spend on eating out.
Cars: For a $1000 or so you can get a car that will get you to and from where you need to go. Extra money and we want a brand new car. Lot's of extra money and we want a luxury car.
Housing:You can rent a small apartment, rent a larger apartment, buy a small house, buy a larger house, buy even a bigger house. The more money we have the more we want.
None of these things are bad. It's the American way to enjoy the fruits of our labor. However, the stress of dealing with our money comes when we have pushed our expenses up to or past the amount that we earn.
Doesn't it make sense to make sure that we are getting the maximum benefit from the money that we earn? The first step is to find out what we actually spend our money on each month and then identifying the areas where we stretch our dollar and get a better value.
This makes now more than ever an important time to learn about stretching money. But not just save it, make each dollar stretch further than ever before. Most Americans don't realize where their money is going. We often end up running out of money before we run out of month. So, here are a few tips to take some of the stress of money out of your life.
The first most important step is determining exactly where your money is going now. For just one month track where your money goes. Try to track the expenses in such a way that you can tell what portion of your income is required for basic fixed expenses and what portion goes to variable expenses.
Fixed expenses would include expenses that are required to cover your very basic needs. That would be basic food, shelter, and only required monthly bills like utility bills to have heat and water. Variable Expenses would include the expenses where you have some influence over how much is spent, things like cable cell phones, newer car, expensive dinners.
Most Americans also have a nasty habit of allowing whatever expenses we have to expand till it matches whatever income we earn. In reality almost all our expenses are variable and we have some control over them.
Lets look at a few examples:
Television: For $50 or so you can get an old used television that receives the free over the air signals. Have a little more money and you'll want a bigger TV with a better picture. More money and you'll probably want cable or satellite to get more channels. More money and you'll want yet a bigger TV, maybe a big screen plasma. Then don't forget the add-ons. DVD player, Tivo or DVR Box.
Internet Access: You can go to a library or most coffee shops, even many McDonalds have free wi-fi. To have access at home you can use dial up for $20 a month. But have a little more money and we'll want high speed access at home so we can download movies for our big screen TV.
Food: If we shop carefully we can get bargains that will extend our food dollar and cook at home. But have a little extra and the first thing we want is to eat out. The more we make the more we tend to spend on eating out.
Cars: For a $1000 or so you can get a car that will get you to and from where you need to go. Extra money and we want a brand new car. Lot's of extra money and we want a luxury car.
Housing:You can rent a small apartment, rent a larger apartment, buy a small house, buy a larger house, buy even a bigger house. The more money we have the more we want.
None of these things are bad. It's the American way to enjoy the fruits of our labor. However, the stress of dealing with our money comes when we have pushed our expenses up to or past the amount that we earn.
Doesn't it make sense to make sure that we are getting the maximum benefit from the money that we earn? The first step is to find out what we actually spend our money on each month and then identifying the areas where we stretch our dollar and get a better value.
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