Wednesday, January 10, 2007
NEW YEAR...... NEW BUDGET!!
Happy New Year guys.........Now that the hangover has gone........Its time for a fresh start !!
Just thinking about the amount of money I spent over Christmas makes me wince.....and then it was the sales! More money spent, when does it end? I just don't know where everyone gets their money from.......are they really that wealthy? The answer is probably NO and its probably all bought on Credit too!
And so it made sense this week to talk about Personal Finances and how to manage them better. Where better to start things a fresh than the beginning of a New Year. So many people get themselves into Financial difficulty because they do not budget correctly. As soon as they get their wages they spend it without thinking about it and then see their personal debt gradually increase either through Credit Cards or Bank Overdrafts.
The best way to overcome this devastating predicament is to budget correctly. Make a note of all your regular monthly outgoings, like Mortgage payments and Household Utility bills, Gas, Electricity, Car loans etc., and then subtract this amount from your net Wages. This will leave you with a net residual amount with which to play with. You MUST NOT overspend this amount!! What I tend to do is take this process a step further by taking out an amount I wish to save straight away, say 10% of your wages, and placing this into a savings account and then proceed to budget the rest. In this way you will always be able to save money on a regular basis and watch it grow over time.
Another tip is to constantly review your Mortgage and Credit Card details.......Changing them to obtain better deals, thus saving you money in the long run. Remember, too, that if you can afford to overpay on your Mortgage payments each month, this will knock off a vast amount of time on your overall Mortgage term, saving you thousands of pounds. Look at all the various Credit Card Companies and switch to the ones that offer a cheap Balance transfer like 0% for 6-9 months with nothing to pay for new purchases for up to 3-4 months. I find doing a bit of research on the Net is a great place to find some really good deals. A good Comparison website to look at is MoneySupermarket.
It sounds quite nerdy but if you get into the habit of writing all your expenses down or even using a windows programme such as Excell, you will be able to create and monitor a really effective Personal Monthly Budget Plan and if you stick to it.....Life will become so much simpler and a lot more fun because you will have so much more money to spend on the things you really love!!
So put that paper down.......Get a pen and a piece of paper and get writing that Budget......and stick to it!!
Well Cherio for now folks..... Got to do mine now!!!
Just thinking about the amount of money I spent over Christmas makes me wince.....and then it was the sales! More money spent, when does it end? I just don't know where everyone gets their money from.......are they really that wealthy? The answer is probably NO and its probably all bought on Credit too!
And so it made sense this week to talk about Personal Finances and how to manage them better. Where better to start things a fresh than the beginning of a New Year. So many people get themselves into Financial difficulty because they do not budget correctly. As soon as they get their wages they spend it without thinking about it and then see their personal debt gradually increase either through Credit Cards or Bank Overdrafts.
The best way to overcome this devastating predicament is to budget correctly. Make a note of all your regular monthly outgoings, like Mortgage payments and Household Utility bills, Gas, Electricity, Car loans etc., and then subtract this amount from your net Wages. This will leave you with a net residual amount with which to play with. You MUST NOT overspend this amount!! What I tend to do is take this process a step further by taking out an amount I wish to save straight away, say 10% of your wages, and placing this into a savings account and then proceed to budget the rest. In this way you will always be able to save money on a regular basis and watch it grow over time.
Another tip is to constantly review your Mortgage and Credit Card details.......Changing them to obtain better deals, thus saving you money in the long run. Remember, too, that if you can afford to overpay on your Mortgage payments each month, this will knock off a vast amount of time on your overall Mortgage term, saving you thousands of pounds. Look at all the various Credit Card Companies and switch to the ones that offer a cheap Balance transfer like 0% for 6-9 months with nothing to pay for new purchases for up to 3-4 months. I find doing a bit of research on the Net is a great place to find some really good deals. A good Comparison website to look at is MoneySupermarket.
It sounds quite nerdy but if you get into the habit of writing all your expenses down or even using a windows programme such as Excell, you will be able to create and monitor a really effective Personal Monthly Budget Plan and if you stick to it.....Life will become so much simpler and a lot more fun because you will have so much more money to spend on the things you really love!!
So put that paper down.......Get a pen and a piece of paper and get writing that Budget......and stick to it!!
Well Cherio for now folks..... Got to do mine now!!!
