Changing Your Spending Habits (3)
Continued from [2]
Children bring on special spending problems. What I mentioned kids as a problem area in the past it actually offended some people, and I guess I can see why. I had to explain what I really meant: if you add up how much money you fork out over to your children in the weeks or months time, you may be amazed. Give them an allowance at stick to it, and do not lend money. Your children need to learn now to earn their money before they spend it. If they don’t learn this from you, it will be that much harder to learn that in the real world.
If you make your personal finances a family project, your children will be part of the process and learn by watching your example of managing the families money. But most children these days earn their own money, too, so they need help. Take some time and sit down with your kids to help them make a budget. If your child has a checking account, make sure that he or she balances it every month. I am still amazed what I see 45-year-old clients who are making $100,000 a year but have never learned how to balance a checkbook. They never had to make any hard decisions because they always had enough money to pay their bills. They never looked at what they were spending, and they no doubt have forfeited thousands of dollars in potential savings over the years.
It is easy to see why your personal finances will be successful only if all members of the household are involved. Your spouse must cooperate to make it work. Otherwise, his or her overspending may cancel out any savings you are achieving on your own. You must talk about what you are planning to do with your family even if you forego telling all the details of your new budget. You may pay the monthly bills well your spouse takes care of day-to-day expenses; if so, I can guarantee that each of you has an idea or two about how the other could do a better job and cutting costs. Your children probably already know if you are having money difficulties; within reason, you should talk with them about this issue.
When we interviewed families in the past on other web sites, we spoke with Julie and Mark, a couple with young children. Mark carried most of the credit cards, so it was a surprising that he was the one with a credit card spending problem. He adored Julie and wanted to buy her everything in the world. Robert Boettcher jewelry on the credit cards; she loved the jewelry but she hated the fact that they would be paying for for months to come, with interest to boot. Four and, the gift just was not worth the financial strain. Their solution? A moratorium on Roberts purchase a big presence for her and the removal of all credit cards from his wallet except the one with no monthly balance.
Remember that we are taking one day, week, and month at a time to change or spend a behavior in different areas. If it is to hard to make monthly goals, make weekly goals. If a week is too long, make daily goals. And start small. If you are eating lunch out every day, try to eat lunch out four times a week instead of five, and bring your lunch one day. Then, when that feels easy enough, cut down to three times a week. The goal is to make the painless cuts first. If you embark on this process gradually, you will fool yourself into thinking you are living just as well as ever because he will barely feel the changes.
Smart spending is not easy, especially if you have tried it in the past and and have given up. But even if you try now and sale in the beginning, you are still on the right track. Now that you know how to cut current spending, you free up extra dollars to pay off all those debts you may have accumulated.
I hope you have enjoyed the first installment on the World of Financing financing learning center section.
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