Be a Better Budgeter

    My mother’s voice still rings in my head today when my daughter asks me for something. “Do you have the money in your savings?” Back then, my answer was inevitable, “No” and typically that is my daughter’s answer as well.  Of course, I was furious that I couldn’t get what I wanted right that moment, and my daughter tends to react in the same way. BUT, the underlying advice, logic, reasoning, lesson, etc, was clear…if you don’t have the money to get it yourself, you don’t get it. Granted, when she asks for new shoes, she gets them…I don’t drive the point home that hard, but she certainly doesn’t get the coolest shoes on the block. The real trick when trying to budget anything is management. Each day we have to manage something, whether our job title dictates it or not. Management is part of our everyday lives. We all have to manage time, kids, food intake, sleep and also budgets. For all, planning ahead can help resolve any issue, even for those surprises/rainy days. Now I’m not a financial consultant in any way, but I can give you the same advice mothers around the world give their kids. Set aside a little each week, and you’ll be amazed how quickly that little amount will grow and how much you won’t even notice the money gone. Here are some ways to help budget for anything:

•  Set up an automatic transfer from your checking to your savings.

•  Have your employer automatically deposit a certain amount of your paycheck into a savings account than the rest into your checking account.
•  Enroll in a “Roundup” program. Some banks allow you to round up the cost of your purchased items to be deposited into a savings account. So, if you purchase something for $3.45, your bank rounds it to $4 and automatically sends $0.55 to your savings account. Multiply that by how many times you use your bank card and it can add up fast.

If these tips are not up to your alley, try setting a goal of what you want to do with that money. How about those shoes that you always wanted? Set up a system that will allow you to save the money in advance, quickly and easily. If it’s neither quick nor easy to do so, then the shoes are too expensive. ~Tough to hear, but true. So the bigger the item, the longer you’d need to save. Granted, many of us can’t do this for big-ticket items like a car or a house, but setting money aside (average 15-20 percent) can get you out of debt quicker! Photo by: Marcio Jose Bastos Silva