After my post on starting your 2008 with the right bang, a few people have shared their goals for the new year. Guess what? All of them includes earning more money. 😀
I think it’s great that people are inspired and building the drive to earn more money. But have you ever tried spending less? The most common thing that would happen is if you get a raise, your lifestyle also gets a raise and that means more expenses. But it’s not about how much money you are earning. It’s about how much money you’re saving!
Less is Definitely More
Even if you make a lot of money online, it won’t really matter if you spend it left and right. Most people know this in theory but have you even really tried applying it?
Get a pen and paper. Sit down and give it a few hours. Write down all your expenses in a month. Yes. ALL!
To help you get started here is an example. Try to break it down to categories like this.
Needs:
- House Utilities
- Electricity
- Water
- Landline
- Mortgages and Installment Bills
- House
- Car
- Travel Expenses
- Gasoline
- Car Maintenance
- Public Transportation for the kids.
- Foods
- Meat
- Vegetables
- Milk and Diary Products
- Fruits
Wants:
- Monthly Membership
- Subscription to a Newspaper or Magazine.
- Country club membership.
- Weekend Activities
- Dining out in a fancy restaurant.
- Beach Outing
- Poker night
- Recreational
- Cable TV bills.
- Piano lessons.
Investments:
- Life insurance
- Mom
- Dad
- Educational
- Luke
- Leia
- Mutual Funds
I’m sure you get the idea. Try it. But make sure to allot one to two hours if you’re going to start doing this. You wouldn’t want to ruin your concentration after you’ve started it. And lastly, once you start it. Make sure to finish it!
After the list, you might be surprised of all the unnecessary expenses you make. After calculating your budget, you can start picking expenses you want to cut down on. Good luck! 😀
If you found my post helpful, please consider stumbling it or subscribing to my feeds. Have a fantastic year!
Setting finances straight is really important especially if you have your own family. Also, as a blogger who earns money from blogging you need to learn how to invest some of your income and not just spend it all the time. 🙂
Well said Jaypee. Which is why having a family is a big responsibility. Hehe. Learning where to invest your money is another skill under financial literacy. Mutual funds are a good investment for me since it’s more long term. 😀
as they say, if you can’t save enough money, then you gotta earn more money. 😉
Nice article dude, for a family man like me, it is better to spend less and save more money for the future and education of my kids.
Even if I am earning a little from the web and at the same time earning a living from my job, spending less means less stress.
😀
Wouldn’t it be easier if it was the other way around? Hehe. 😀
By the way, great pics. You look like you travel a lot. Hehe.
I’m glad you found it useful Arnel. Hehe. Spending less is less stress. Indeed. It is very stressful to be chasing on issued checks and credit card bills. 😀
great tip 😀 I’m gonna bookmark this post 😀