Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

**tgavin71** · 08-08-2006, 12:59 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

I dare say that you will get a lot of advice. So I am only going to give you one.
First things first. Write down everything you spend your money on for a minimum of 3 months. Absolutely everything. Round up to the nearest dollar. So if you spend 25c on an item write down that you spent $1 on it. It means that you would have saved a 75c on that item alone. It will give you a clearer idea of what you currently spend your money on. It will be impossible to come up with a budget until you do this.

**pearlieq** · 08-08-2006, 06:33 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

One thing that might help is setting up an automatic transfer from your checking to a savings account.

On the day after you get your paycheck, have it set up to automatically pull out all the money you need for your bills, plus some for savings. Whatever you have left in your checking account, you can spend.

Make sure you can't access the savings too easily--don't get check writing privileges for ATM access for it. Make it so you have to transfer the money back into your checking to pay bills with it.

Good luck!

**Broken Arrow** · 08-08-2006, 07:16 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

The basic, underlying problem is not having a budget in place, and following it.

I think the easiest thing to do is to figure out how much spending money you can "afford" for yourself, convert that into cash, and spend only that cash. Leave everything else at home or in the bank.

**Fern** · 08-08-2006, 08:07 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

I think this is a matter of impulse controle, so pearlieq's suggestion to have automatic deductions taken from your pay into some sort of savings account is a good one, cus you don't have to think about it.

**PrincessPerky** · 08-08-2006, 10:46 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

try IMAs sleeve for her CC card, somethign about weather or not she needs it, could do without it.
only for a goal of saving cut out a picture of what you are saving for..if it is security try a egg, (nest egg) if it is a house, use a picture of a cool house..

if a egg is too boring, try two pictures one egg and one fun frivoulous reward. when you hit X amount go enjoy your reward and find a new one. Make your reward something you can earn in an easy time (like a week) then start stretching it.

**Ima saver** · 08-08-2006, 10:54 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

IHave a budget, written down. Every week, I cash the paycheck and put away 1/4 (weekly) of the money I need for each item, rent, food, gas, elec, water, heat, cable, telephone, (big ticket items like car insur,house insur, prop. taxes are added for the year and divided by 52 weeks)credit card, health insurance, etc.
Twice amonth I pay my bills. I write the checks and then deposit the cash needed to cover the checks into my checking account. there is never any money left over in my checking accout to buy anything else, so i leave the checkbook home all the time.
I also pay my self first, 10% to be put into savings right away.
I give myself an allowance, that is all I am allowed to spend that week.

Write everything down that you spend. That will help.

**gavinmccallister** · 08-08-2006, 04:51 PM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

When I open up a bank account and they tell me about my atm card when it will arrive I tell them I don't want one, and if they send me one anyway I cut it up and throw it out. I want to keep as much distance from my money as possible, I use one credit card my Discover Card for everything gas, grocerys, gifts. When the bill comes in the mail I used to pay the ENTIRE balance, but have learned you only have to pay the NEW balance in order not to be charged finance charges, so that way you can earn interest on your money while using their money for free for 30 days until the bill is due.

Also with Discover card I can wait right up until the due date to pay my bill because you can pay it at Sears. I work at the mall so it is not a problem for me.

**Elgin526** · 08-09-2006, 09:20 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

It sounds like you just really need a budget, and a budget you can stick to!

Start by writing down all your usual monthly bills, rent, food, utilities, student loans, car payments, gasoline, anything you pay every month.

Next, write down bills that you don't get every month, like insurance, doctors visits, vet bills, car repairs/maintenance, vacations, anything you pay for during the year but don't get a monthly bill for. Look at your canceled checks or old bank statments so you don't forget anything. Total this up and divide by 12, that's what you have to save each month to cover these bills.

Then, look at your entertainment budget, these are things like movies, concerts, eating out, buying cd's or dvd's, magaizines, books, etc. Decide how much you want to spend on stuff like this each month.

Don't forget to budget clothing, this can be either a monthly expense or semi-annual, depending on how you shop. I shop for clothes about 2 or 3 times a year rather than hitting the mall every weekend, but I know of other's that are constantly buying clothing. Whatever works for you is fine, but just make sure you budget for it.

If you don't have credit card debt right now, that's great! Just don't start! Save for emergencies like your car breaking down so you hopefully don't have to charge it. If you do have to charge an emergency (it happens to the best of us!), stop all spending on non-esentials until the bill is paid off. Once you're caught up you can treat yourself to something as a reward.Nothing will suck down your income faster than credit card bills!

Once you add up all your monthly expenses, compare that to your take home pay. If it is as much or less than your pay, you're doing great! If you are under, consider contributing more to your retirement plan, or saving more for emergencies. If you are over budget, then you obviously need to look for place to cut back. The first place is your "entertainment" budget, then look at some of your other bills and see if you can get those down. Cut out, cut down, or look for lower rates on things like cable, internet, cell phone/land line phone, groceries, etc. Shop for lower rates on car/home/renters insurance. Get creative, make a game out of finding places to save money. Make a short term savings goal and when you hit it, treat yourself to a little something (I'm a huge believe in rewards, nothing like possitive feedback to build good habits!).

And last, but not least, congratulations on realizing you've got to get your finances under control before you really had a big problem on your hands. You've saved yourself a lot of heartache and money by nipping this in the bud!

**lillyb** · 08-09-2006, 07:07 PM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

I'm still fairly new to budgeting, myself. This is what I do, we get paid bi-weekly. I've got a set amount in mind that I withdraw in cash. Money for groceries, gas for the car, and blow money (to keep me happy). I put these into envelopes, this is supposed to last me two weeks. When the envelope is empty, I can't spend any more. Then, I sit down and pay bills with the rest that I deposited. All the bills get paid and on time. With everything that is left over I pay debt down (as that is our goal, to get out of debt). We have a small emergency fund (we have it in cash, some people use an emergency credit card, whatever works for you), to catch any Murphy visits.

Been doing it this way for nearly a year and it's working great! Hurts to spend cash and when you know you have a limited amount, you tend to spend less. I pay everything in my checking account down to zero, so there's no willingness on my part to spend frivolously. In the mean time we're paying down debt, the bills are paid on time, and I have enough cash to get us by until the next payday.

Best of luck, I know it's hard!!

**Gruntina** · 08-09-2006, 08:23 PM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

The day I get paid is the day I sit at my checkbook and write down all my bills until next payday even though I did not technically pay the bills that day. This way I know what I have left and budget with that so I dont spend it all.

**Broken Arrow** · 08-10-2006, 04:51 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

lillyb's methods are the ones that I've once used and advocate myself.

I still do essentially the same thing, except now, I leave it all in my checking account, and track it with my budgeting software. I used to use a debit card to handle everything, but now have moved to a credit card.

What I do isn't necessary or even necessarily good because I have be on my toes more, but... it's what I enjoy doing it this way and it works well enough for me.

**b4freedom** · 08-10-2006, 06:41 PM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

You know, I've always wanted to manage other peoples money and get paid for it. For $100/month, I'll manage your money, pay your bills, and give you a very small spending account. I'll provide you with one monthly summary statement. And, I'll help you save for the future. Only catch, you can't spend money without telling me.

**b4freedom** · 08-10-2006, 06:44 PM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

Another idea: before you buy anything, dial my 1-900 # and for $2.99/minute, I'll talk you out of it.

**PrincessPerky** · 08-11-2006, 04:05 AM

Re: Can You Help Me Manage My Money?

Heh

Can You Help Me Manage My Money?