Planning, budgeting and other boring stuff successful people do
I just finished installing quicken. I’ve been writing down all my expenses on a daily basis, and keeping all receipts. I am ready to start entering all this info into Quicken (I’m keeping these receipts in a small cardboard box I found laying around until I enter them into Quicken). I’m excited, this may seem trivial but is incredibly powerful.
See, we do need to know where our money is going if we want to improve our financial situation. If you haven’t started yet, make sure you start TODAY tracking all your expenses. Then get yourself a software program to help you keep track of your expenses. It could be Quicken, or Microsoft Money, or one of the free ones like AceMoney Lite (Available at http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/index_lite.shtml)
Then every month, analyze your expenses and see which ones you can eliminate or reduce. Pay especial attention to your recurring expenses, like your cable TV, car insurance, even your cell phone plan. If there are certain features you don’t use, consider downgrading if you can save some money. In the case of your car insurance, call 2 or 3 companies and get quotes.
A couple of months ago, I got a call from my cable company offering HBO and STARZ (some people couldn’t believe I didn’t have HBO!) for $10 a month for 3 months. I said yes, and it was an impulse decision. Now, almost 2 months later, I decided to cancel it for two reasons: one, I almost never watch them; 2- after the third month, it will be $22 a month. Now, keep in mind that successful people don’t look at the monthly payment; they look at the whole picture: $22 a month is $264 a year of my after-taxes money (which means I will have to earn $325 so I can pay Cox Cable $264 after I pay Uncle Sam). Thanks, but no thanks.
Budgeting is as tedious as it is powerful. Nobody enjoys doing it (maybe accountants I guess but I’m still not sure) but once you start doing it on a regular basis, it can transform your life and the way you look at your expenses.
Make sure you read the eBook Get Out Of Debt 101 for more ideas and a simple but powerful step-by-step plan to get out of debt in record time (available at http://www.GetOutOfDebt101.com)
