By Colin Dunbar
1. Have a Budget
Please note that this is a realistic discussion on the subject of having a budget. There are two aspects in having a budget: income and expenses. A successful budget means the income is more than the expenses. And therefore, the success of your budget means the control of these two aspects. Having specific goals can go a long way to helping you control these aspects. These can be anything from buying a home entertainment center, clearing credit card debt, going on holiday.
To help with establishing money goals, you could draw up a written "agreement" with your partner, spouse, friend or family member. This can be used to remind each other when the impulsive buying urges surface. The first step in reaching your money goals is the control of your finances, and a realistic budget is the means to do this.
What do you do if your budget does not balance? There are in reality only two options: decrease expenses, or increase income. Most of the time it is not easy or practical to get the former right. It is possible to increase income by making an extra income. This can be done through a variety of means. You could consider turning your hobby into an income generating source. Or you could investigate operating a web business - the benefit of this is that it can be started with minimal start-up costs.
2. Stay away from debt
Now, wasn't that easy to say? Here it is paramount to have a realistic view. How possible is it really to stay away from debt? As the old saying goes, "everything in moderation" or something along those lines. Getting into debt is one of the easiest things in this world, and for this reason you need to put up your guard against it.
For illustration purposes, I'd like to share the following with you: there is "essential debt" and "luxury debt", and the differentiation of these can help keep you out of the debt trap. Your house, vehicle, household appliances, etc. fall in the "essential debt" category. On the other end, things like entertainment centers, camcorders, and dress jewellery fall into the "luxury debt" category.
Some ideas to control or avoid debt are:
- Watch credit card spending.
- Check interest rates, and negotiate where possible.
- Pay debt off as quickly as possible; add a little extra to the payment, if possible.
- Raise your awareness of "luxury debt".
- Re-consider designer labels and name brands.
- Watch the small expenses, they all add up.
About The Author
Colin Dunbar created the eaziGOAL system, offering you 11 practical and proven goal setting tools to enable you to get what you want. Manual, workbook with goal setting worksheets.
Click here to learn about these simple goal setting tools.
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