Know Your Needs

Many of us grew up in a time of consumerism and unprecedented wealth. Unfortunately, this has skewed our vision of our most important and basic needs. Those things like expensive perfumes, big cars, computers and phones are all luxuries as opposed to necessities and should only be indulged in when they fit into the budget. Just keep in mind that the things we truly need are things like shelter, water, and food. Anything else can wait for the money in the budget.

Just Say No

Our brains are created in such a way that we rarely find ourselves comfortable with the things we have. However, saying no goes beyond material possessions. For example, if you’re one who enjoys going out and party every weekend, you might need to curb that habit. It can be a very expensive habit that can derail your budget quickly. If you’re having trouble saying no, click here to learn more about how to get help.

As far as material things go, we tend to crave more, and this is especially true when we see our friends and colleagues using things we don’t have yet. This means that saying no when things don’t fit into your budget is important here too.

Stay Away from Money Sinks

What is a money sink? It’s anything that you buy that actually slowly drains your money while not adding a whole lot to your life. Things like recurring subscription fees and shopping online are habits that can be stopped. The easiest way to resist temptation is to avoid sites where you can spend money. Remember that there are plenty of free and legal sites that are there to entertain you, without you feeling the need to click the pay button.

Cheap Fun

One fallacy that sprouted from the consumerism mindset is that you need to spend a lot of money on entertainment. Fun can be cheap and even free and often it’s the best kind to have. There are all sorts of things you can do even if your budget is low. Get involved with your community, explore parks or flea markets, hike in the mountains nearby or just go for a walk with the kids. If you know where to look, there are typically all sorts of things that are both cheap and fun going on in every city.

Remember that if you don’t have ways of resisting consumerism and you just don’t have any idea of how to stop spending and stay on budget, you can always get help from a professional financial planner. They can show you exactly how to live a happier, better life while staying on budget.

How to Stay on Budget is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

However, learning how to budget as a couple isn’t just a good thing for your financial health. If you can figure out how to budget effectively together, then you can also improve your chances of a long and happy relationship too!

To help you get started, here’s how you can take the stress out of budgeting as a couple.

1. Determine Your Mutual Needs Together

The first step is figuring out what you both need to dedicate money to each week or month. This means looking at the essential expenses like car payments, groceries, utility payments, and mortgage expenses. Crucially, even if only one of you drives, if you sometimes get places in that person’s car, you should be playing a part in maintaining it.

When you’re first dealing with your finances as a couple, you might need to adjust some of your expectations so you can ensure you’re on the same page. For instance, just because you want to save more doesn’t mean your spouse or partner will want to. You’ll need to find a way to meet in the middle. The initial aim is to prioritize your needs, then come back to your “wants” later.

2. Create Goals You Can Both Get Behind

When you know how much you have to spend each month, the next step is to figure out some long-term goals. These are the targets that will drive your saving decisions. Creating the right plan can help you to figure out when you can next buy a house, or when you can start a family if that’s what you want. It will also help you to plan for retirement or discuss your dream vacation.

It’s up to you what kind of goals you want to set for your family. The key to success is ensuring that you’re both passionate about your long-term target. Some good beginners goals include:

• Paying off your debts as quickly as possible
• Buying a new home or putting a deposit on a property
• Building an emergency savings stash

3. Think About your Individual Needs

When you’re living as a couple, the needs that apply to both of you need to come before individual expectations. However, once you’ve set a goal for the two of you, you can begin to talk about individual wants. For instance, your partner might want to maintain their gym relationship, while you’d like to spend more on clothing and haircuts.

Ultimately, you’ll need to be willing to compromise here. Both of you won’t be able to afford everything that you want each month in most cases. However, you should be able to find the cash for something important to each of you. Don’t give your spouse a hard time when they share what’s important to them. As long as your partner sticks to the amount that they’re allocated for their “wants,” there’s no need to argue about how their cash is spent.

4. Track Your Spending Via Budget Meetings

Budgets are rarely something a couple can set up and then simply forget about. You’ll both need to play a part in tracking the way that you spend cash. This could mean downloading a financial app that watches your cash for you. Alternatively, it could just mean coming together for weekly discussions about how you’re getting along when it comes to achieving your financial goals.

Remember, there’s a chance that you or your spouse may make a spending mistake on the road to success from time to time. Although you need to show your disappointment during these moments, don’t go over the top. We all make mistakes when changing our habits. Look for a way to recover from the issue as quickly as possible and get back on track.

5. Always Make Decisions as a Team

Finally, when you’re living together as a couple, make sure that every decision you make about your finances, is considered as a team. If someone needs to take out a loan, compare your interest rate options together. If your partner needs extra cash to pay for something important, discuss the impact that him or her taking that money is going to make.

Simply discussing your financial habits can go a long way towards improving them.

How to Take the Stress Out of Budgeting as a Couple is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

However, there are ways to cut costs, save money, and still pay your bills on time. Here are a few tips to help you save money during deployment.

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

If you aren’t familiar with it yet, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act gives legal rights to anyone being deployed and also extends some coverage to the spouse and family members of the service member. This is a big deal if you are trying to save money during deployment. Instead of paying bills you aren’t using (like car insurance, phone bills, etc.) you can pause these contracts, or may be able to break them altogether.

Save Deployment Pay

There are many different ways that a service member can receive pay while deployed. Sometimes, you may qualify for additional compensation as well (based on the type of deployment and if the service member has a spouse/dependents).

There are times where deployment pay may be lower than traditional paychecks. However, if you find yourself earning more during deployment, throw the extra money into a savings account that you can’t easily touch unless for an emergency. This will allow you to save money during deployment without losing out on too much income.

Lower Your Bills

Going along with taking advantage of the SCRA, you can find plenty of other ways to lower your bills during deployment. Almost every flexible bill, like utility bills, phone bills, and even car insurance can be lowered. Sometimes you may have to explain your situation (again, that’s where the SCRA comes in), but more often than not you’ll be able to lower your bills with just a simple phone call.

If you can’t lower your bills, try cutting them out altogether. Do you really need cable? Can you do without the second car payment? Try seeing how you can simplify your finances so you can save money during deployment.

Use Military Discounts

Now, this doesn’t mean to look down on small businesses or companies that don’t offer military discounts (even if you think they should), but this does mean to take advantage of the offers when you get them. Military discounts can save you cash on almost everything, from food to getting your car serviced.

If you are a spouse dealing with deployment, military discounts can make a huge difference in your savings. Just don’t forget to have your military ID to prove who you are.

Cut Out Unnecessary Expenses

As much as you may like eating out or getting haircuts, sometimes you have to buckle down and cut out unnecessary expenses. If you are losing money during deployment, cutting out expenses that aren’t necessities can add a few (or a few hundred) dollars into your budget every month, and every little bit counts.

Go through your budget from the last few months, and see where you can make some changes. I guarantee that there will be something that you can cut out, just for the short term. Then, take the money you are saving on the expenses, and throw it into a savings account.

Get a Part-Time Job

If you have exhausted all other options and are still struggling while trying to save money during deployment, it may be time to apply for a part-time job.

While not ideal, especially if you have kids, a part-time job can help you stay afloat and save more money. You don’t have to keep the job forever, but at least having it short-term can help you save more.

There are so many ways to save money during deployment, but these should start you on the right track.

How to Save Money During Deployment is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Studies have shown that around 25% of American households no longer have cable, and instead use online streaming services to watch their favorite shows and movies. So what are the best streaming services that will help you replace your cable?

Start streaming services with Netflix

Netflix is the “holy grail” streaming service that many people already have, whether they’re using it in conjunction with their cable or using it with other streaming services. At $7.99 for the cheapest plan (for use on one screen at a time), Netflix is an affordable option for those looking to venture into online streaming services.

Pros with Netflix include the release of new movies fairly quickly, many popular shows and Netflix originals (some being critically acclaimed), and many shows having all of their seasons all in one place.

A few cons to note are that Netflix typically releases seasons all at once.So, You may not be able to watch your favorite show right away. Also, Netflix is known for raises its prices every few years or so. In fact, they just announced they would be raising prices again (with the middle plan starting at $11 instead of $10).

Hulu

Looking to keep up with the latest shows and episodes? Hulu has you covered. They are also lowering the prices. Right now the cheapest plan is $7.99, but Hulu is dropping that to $5.99. Other notable pros are that Hulu has shows that have been canceled or discontinued, and they even have the option to skip commercials (if you want) for $11.99 a month.

However, there are a few cons with Hulu as well. For one, good movies are almost non-existent with this streaming service. Many users have also complained about user experience. But, if you’re willing to overlook the negatives, you can get a steal with this streaming service.

Amazon TV

The best thing about Amazon TV ? It automatically comes with Amazon Prime. This online streaming service is one of the best if you have children because it comes with both newer and older kids shows (think Dora, Bubble Guppies, etc.).

If you aren’t looking for the benefits of Amazon Prime, you could skip it and just pay the $8.99 a month for Amazon TV. Although, you’ll lose money in the long run.

So are there any cons to Amazon TV? Well for one, you can’t have more than one user. So for larger families, this may be an issue. Amazon also doesn’t customize your experience, so you won’t get recommended shows based on your preferences. However, you can’t really beat FREE as an Amazon Prime member.

HBO Now

While this is one of those streaming services that’s not a one-stop shop, HBO Now is great for those not looking to give HBO up. While it’s one of the more expensive options on the list (at $15 a month), you’ll get HBO original shows as well as the latest movie releases. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you’ll need this service.

You can also add on HBO Now to Hulu as part of a package, so if you only need it when you’re favorite shows are airing, you can add and remove it as you please.

Sling TV

Sling TV is slowly becoming a popular online streaming service. If you just aren’t ready to take the leap and get rid of cable, Sling TV may be able to change your mind.

It has everything. Into sports? It has that option. Into HGTV? It has that option. Want to watch cartoons? It has that too.

Sling TV starts at $20/month, and while that may seem steep, it includes over 20 of cables most popular channels, including AMC and Food Network. So, if you can’t fathom to give up your cable just yet, Sling TV is the best option for you to ease into for online streaming services.

YouTube Red

While YouTube Red isn’t my personal favorite, it still deserves to be included on the list. At $9.99 a month, not only does YouTube Red allow you to skip ads and commercials, but it also gives you access to many of YouTube’s original TV shows and movies. While this may not appeal to some, for those diehard YouTube fans, this is a great add-on. Plus, you’re able to play music and movies in the background and watch online if you wanted.

Biggest cons for YouTube Red? You still have to pay for premium shows and movies that aren’t original to Youtube. It also isn’t available worldwide, so certain features may become unavailable if you travel out of the country.

While there are other online streaming services, these top six should be a great starting point for anyone looking to ditch their cable.

Best Online Streaming Services to Replace Cable is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

While many people choose to rent instead, you can still afford a house when you’re broke. Here are a few steps to take if you want to own your own home.

Weigh Your Options

If you live in an area that buying a house is cheaper than renting (even factoring in insurance and repairs), it may be your best option to buy a home instead of rent. When trying to afford a house when you’re broke, you may think that moving is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be.

Some expenses may come up in your first few months of owning a home, but that is to be expected. Think about it this way: If you typically rent for $1,500 a month and you buy a home that only costs $800 a month, you are already saving $700 every single month. If something breaks down, and it costs $500 to fix, you still get ahead by $200 by having your own home.

Now, owning a home isn’t always cheaper, so it’s best to weigh your options. However, in many areas, including my own, owning a home tends to fare better than renting.

Look Into Assistance to Afford a House

Every state has home buying programs that can help you afford a house when you’re broke. While the assistance varies from state to state, it’s still worth it to look into what yours offers. Some will help you secure a loan as a first-time home buyer, even if you are low-income.

Some states even offer grants to move into less desirable areas or moving into more deserted places. It’s best to look into these programs to see what you qualify for, you may be able to get your home for a lot cheaper than you first thought.

Choose The Right Loan

All conventional mortgages require a 20% down payment. But other loans such as VA (military) loans and FHA loans require no money down or as little as 3.5%. If you don’t have a 20% down payment, there is still hope to afford a house when you’re broke.

In some cases, an FHA loan may not be the best option. With an FHA loan, you will be paying at least .85% of your loan in mortgage insurance every single year. That only goes away when you refinance or:

1. Have at least 20% of equity in our home; or
2. Paid at least 20% of mortgage payments

While conventional loans may have higher interest rates, you can avoid PMI fees.

Location Can Make A Difference

If you are looking for a home in an affluent neighborhood, chances are that it’s going to cost you. You may have to settle for less or pay hefty fees. Instead, try looking in neighborhoods that have fixer uppers, or are a little more affordable.

This doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your safety, but it does give you a little more flexibility and opportunity to afford a house when you’re broke.

Lower Your Loan

Even with the economy and recession, many Americans are still qualifying for loans way above their means. While this may seem like a great thing at first, instead you will be getting a home that you can’t afford.

To make sure that you can afford a house when you’re broke, try using an online calculator to see what payments would work best for you, and keep your loan in that amount. And remember, you don’t have to take all of the money that the bank offers you.

Cut Unnecessary Spending

If you can’t afford a 20% down payment on your home, and won’t have extra cash in your budget to prepare for emergencies, it’s time to cut back on your expenses.

Try living frugally, like making your own food at home vs. going out to eat, or cutting down on expenses like your phone bill. To be able to afford a house when you’re broke, you’ll have to make a few sacrifices in other areas.

Be Happy With Your New Home

When you are trying to afford a house when you’re broke, you may have to make a few sacrifices on your first home. You may not get all that you wanted on your wish list, but that’s okay.

Everyone starts somewhere, and you can always get a bigger and better home later down the road. But for now, be satisfied with what you have.

It’s not impossible to afford a house when you’re broke. It just takes some careful planning, research, and savings. A home is a great thing to have.

How To Afford A House When You’re Broke is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Here are some savvy financial tips to consider and some insights on how you can implement some lasting positive changes to your financial situation. Including a suggestion to take an alternative view on reaching your goals, why you need to analyze your monthly costs, plus some tips that should help you keep more of your cash.

Think small to improve the bigger picture

It’s easy to adopt the mindset that paying an extra $30 or so extra toward your credit card debt payments is hardly worth the bother and won’t really make much of a difference.

It is perfectly understandable that you look at the balance and think how can I clear the debt in one go? But it often pays to take an alternative approach to clearing your debts and adding to your savings pot.

Those seemingly insignificant additional payments actually make a substantial difference to reaching your goals and rather than keep wondering how you are going to raise a chunk of cash in one go, start chipping away at your balances with these small additional sums of money.

It is a good strategy to think small as those extra payments will ultimately get you to where you want to be a lot quicker than if you keep holding back trying to raise enough cash to make what you might consider a meaningful contribution.

When you are committed to clearing debt and putting more toward your savings, don’t try to do it all almost immediately, make regular additional payments when you can and also try to make small changes to your finances to help you free up extra cash.

Where are you overspending?

It is essential that you revisit your budget on a regular basis and review what you are spending your money on to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere or cut out the expense altogether if it is not something you really need or even actually want.

Take a look at all your monthly expenses and do some research such as working out which is the best car to get for your needs and whether you can improve on the deal that you are currently paying.

Pay close attention to every amount that depletes your bank balance each month. Many of us can find magazine subscriptions that you no longer want and gym membership you don’t use anymore can still be going out of your bank every month.

Check your monthly payments regularly and cancel anything you no longer need or use.

Take the cash test

Handing over your credit or charge card doesn’t feel like you are spending real money and this can make you immune to the actual level of your spending, which is probably higher than it would be if you were paying by cash instead.

You will almost certainly discover you are much more cautious when buying your groceries or shopping for clothes with cash, having left your cards at home.

Try taking an amount of cash out of your bank for the week and keep your cards away from temptation when you go shopping. Taking the cash test should see you become much more aware of the value of the money you are spending and it can often help you change your habits for the better.

Keep track of spending

Another good discipline to get into is to write down all the purchases you make.

Seeing what you are spending in black and white in front of you often creates a heightened sense of awareness and is another good trick for reining in your spending.

If you don’t want to write the details down manually there are a number of useful apps that make it easy to track your spending on your smartphone.

If you can introduce a greater awareness of where all your money goes there is a good chance that you will spend less of it on frivolous items, giving you more cash towards your debt repayment and savings goals.

Take a moment to decide

Another useful trick that can improve your finances is to give yourself some breathing space before you commit to a purchase outside of your normal weekly spending.

There are a number of people who tend to buy things on impulse, even including high-value items like cars as well as clothes and gadgets, only to wish they had thought about it before going ahead.

Learn to take a raincheck on those financial decisions. If you still feel you want it after giving yourself some time to think it over, fair enough. But there will definitely be times where that initial excitement fades and you are glad you didn’t rush in to spend the money.

If you try some of the savvy tactics with your money management it could make all the difference to your financial situation.

Nathan Cartwright is an ordinary guy who changed his financial life around 4 years ago. He now shares his tips and money-thoughts online with his articles helping others to take control.

Smart Money Moves: Little Changes to Make a Big Difference in Your Finances is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

But what happens if meal planning seems more like a hassle? Here are a few tips and tricks to make meal planning easier and more effective.

Save Recipes

If you have recipes that you could eat all of the time, save them on your phone, computer, or even on sites like Pinterest. That way, if you are feeling uninspired while meal planning, you can take a quick peek at your list.

If you want to stay super organized and make meal planning easier, you can organize your recipes by type (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.). Try to keep these meals simple and easy prep.

If you are saving your recipes via places like Evernote or your phone, remember to link the recipe or jot down the ingredients needed, especially if the recipe has more than five ingredients. This will keep you from searching for the recipe every time you want to use it.

Make Meal Planning Easier With Themes

To keep yourself from staring at your calendar every time you have to plan your meals, create a weekly theme.

For example, you could make soup on Mondays, pasta on Tuesdays, and so on. Not only will this make your meal planning easier, but it will also keep you from getting bored by eating the same meals over and over.

Make A List

When you are trying to streamline your meal planning, it’s important to stick to a list. It shouldn’t take long to create a shopping and meal list for the week (or however often you shop).

When you are trying to make meal planning easier, a list will keep you on task and make sure you aren’t buying items just because you like the look of them. Also, making a list allows you to see what you have in your pantry/fridge, which could cut down on food waste.

Shop Smart

If you don’t want to be overwhelmed when shopping and meal planning, try shopping on the same day and time every week. For example, I shop every Wednesday morning, because the stores are never busy and I have enough free time on Wednesdays to keep me from feeling overwhelmed.

It’s also smart to check ads and sales before you go. Making meal planning easier isn’t all about saving time, but saving money as well. Checking ads can help you plan your meals around more local and inexpensive items, which will bring your grocery bill down and give you a little more wiggle room in your budget.

Prep Smart

Once you’ve gotten all of your food items, it’s time to prep your food for the week. Since you’ve already made a list of your meals, all you have to do is decide how to arrange your prep time to be as efficient as possible.

If you bought meat, it’s best to start prepping that first, as it may need to marinate or cook longer than fruits and veggies. Cooking this way ensures that everything is complete around the same time and that you aren’t running around more than you should be.

Another way to make meal prepping easier is to just prep the components of your meals vs. the whole meal itself. If you know that most of your meals require chicken, go ahead and bake all of it and shred, dice, or keep it whole based on the recipe. You could also pre-chop your veggies, separate your yogurt into different containers, and get your snacks together in their baggies.

While it may take you a few hours your first-time meal prepping, with a little practice and planning ahead, you should be able to keep your prep time under two hours for the whole week.

Meal planning doesn’t have to be difficult or long. In fact, meal planning can become a fun and easy way to be healthier, save some cash, and reduce your stress.

5 Ways to Make Meal Planning Easier is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

This guest post on budgeting is by Ryan Bonaparte, who last wrote for Add-Vodka in 2012 about common financial mistakes that young adults make. Ryan is a long-time writer and author, delving into topics including personal finance, technology, and career pursuits. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and fiercely independent cat.

Budgeting can be an amazing tool.

From the moment you begin to track where you’re spending your hard-earned money, budgeting can help you begin to understand what your habits are, where your priorities lie, and what goals you want to set in place. That’s a powerful place to be in life, as you can move past surviving paycheck to paycheck, and on to building a security net and further wealth.

I often talk to my friends about the power of moving my money away from the things I don’t care about (a bigger house) to the things I do care about (a nicer car). While you can’t have everything because of a budget, you can put budgeting into an action a plan to have anything with a bit of planning and hard work.

But efficiently earning and spending money is not the meaning of life. There are other factors to consider when deciding how to spend your money, and more importantly what to do with your life outside of budgeting.

The Impact On Your Quality of Life

We all know the stories of cutting out $4 coffees to save for your retirement. And while this might be a good place for most people to save money, if you truly love and look forward to your morning latté, then maybe that $4 is money well-spent.

The same might go for paying for cable. Cutting out true pleasures (when we’re honest with ourselves about what truly falls into that category) is a surefire way to regret the journey.

Impact of Budgeting on Long-Term Goals

Not every goal is a financial one. Sometimes it comes down to what you want to be able to say you’ve accomplished 50 years from now. If traveling is big on your agenda, then a short road trip might make financial sense, but a flight to another continent might fit better with your goal of being a world traveler.

If you want to plan a retreat for your friends, spending a few extra dollars to cover a struggling friend’s expenses might make the experience much better than if you just said tough luck.

The Impact On Your Family

Families are an essential part of our lives as humans, whether it’s our biological families, or those that we’ve come to call family, spending quality time with them enables us to face some of the inevitable challenges that arise. If we are eliminating time with our families to earn more money or to save on travel expenses, then at some point we need to ask ourselves why we’re even working in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong with budgeting, and many who live without a budget are doomed to suffer because of it. But don’t let blindly following that budget remove the experiences that we all really live for.

When Budgeting Goes Wrong and Doesn’t Fit Your View of Life is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

We all have dreams and ambitions in life that require a huge amount of money. Some people might prefer getting a personal loan and fund their needs; while others may choose to abstain from increasing their debt burden and opt to take the longer route of saving.

However, starting to save is not always easy especially when doing it for the first time; and maintaining the discipline of saving at regular intervals is even harder for most people with a personal savings plan.  The following steps will help you to get started on the right footing; and when you are into the game of saving, they will help you to remain focused and maintain your regular deposits to your savings account.

Create a record of all your monthly expenses

Expenses are what deter us from saving and therefore the best place to start your saving journey is by noting them all down. These include the snacks you buy each day on your way to work, the amount you spend on newspapers, money spent on entertainment with friends and the regular monthly bills such as electricity, water, grocery, rent among others.

The goal here is to account for every dollar that goes out of your pocket in a given month. After listing all your monthly expenses you will then need to categorize them into major groups such as utilities, groceries, house rent etc. and then find the totals for each category in order to identify where you are spending much of your money.

Develop a monthly budget

Once you have a clear record of all your expenses arranged in order of their sizes, you then move on to listing all your regular income sources per month and sum them up to find your total monthly income. A comparison between your total expenses and your total income will then show you whether you are operating on a budget deficit or on a budget surplus. 

A deficit is a situation whereby your expenses exceed your income; while a surplus is a situation whereby your income exceeds your expenses. If you are having a budget surplus then you can maintain your monthly expenses at the same level and start saving the extra income.

Cut down your costs

If on the other hand  you are having a budget deficit, you will need to restructure your expenses and increase your income sources in order to first bridge the deficit gap and then start saving. A new job for an additional source of income might not come immediately and therefore the first step in bridging your budget deficit is to cut down on your monthly expenses. This will involve removing luxury cost items you can do away with from your budget and starting to survive with the basic things that enable you to live a decent life.

You will also need to make changes on your credit cards by shifting to credit cards with rewards and which charge lesser interest rates. This will help you to both reduce your monthly credit card expenses, as well as help you to earn pseudo-income every time you go shopping; through the loyalty points you get which you can redeem later on for actual goods and services at no extra cost.

Develop a concrete savings plan

After disciplining yourself to survive on basics of life and bridging your budget deficit, you will start earning surplus income that will need to be planned for in order to avoid wasting the money after accumulating it for a long period of time. The first step in planning your savings is setting a minimum amount that you shall be saving every month.

You then need to make your savings automatic in the sense that, instead of you withdrawing the money and depositing it to your savings account; you have a standing order such that your savings are deducted even before you can have access to your salary. This reduces the temptation to spend the amount meant saving and smoothens your savings plan.

Have a sound goal for saving

Saving just for the sake of it will only accumulate huge amounts of money in your bank account which you will eventually blow away in a wasteful manner over unplanned expenditure. To be more disciplined in your savings plan, you need to have a very sound objective for saving in the first place.

You could choose to save for your school fees, to buy a car, buy a home, for a vacation or any other thing that you value most. Having these bigger goals helps you to remain committed in your saving journey; and when the target is reached the money is utilized prudently in a valuable thing that improves the quality of your life.

When you start saving from scratch, the end always justifies the means. The sacrifices you make in terms of cutting down your expenses and looking for additional part-time engagements to boost your incomes; will only be valuable if the end goal is big enough to keep you committed to the course.

Creating Your Savings Plan From Scratch in 5 Steps is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

If you’re in debt, you may find yourself trying to balance bills, debt repayment, and miscellaneous expenses. A great way to start paying off your debt is to create a bare bones budget. This budget will show you how to live on less, and get your financial life back in order.

Go Through Your Current Budget

The first step to creating your bare bones budget is to evaluate your current budget. If you don’t have a budget, it’s time to create one. Go through your income and expenses from the last few months, and write everything down in categories. Once your current budget has been assessed, it’s time to determine your wants vs. needs.

Wants vs. Needs

Looking at your current budget, are there ways that you can cut back? A bare bones budget is exactly what it’s called…bare. It involves your needs only, with very little room for wants.

Could you be spending less on food? Could you live in a smaller or cheaper place? What about current bills? If you are trying to pay off debt a little faster, it’s best to cut bills like cable and phones until you can really afford them. There are other ways to enjoy TV for free, and you could always get a to-go phone.

Once you have your needs written down, if you are still struggling to make ends meet, it’s time to do some haggling. Find ways to slash your utility bills, drive your car less if possible, and negotiate with the companies you have to deal with. For items like health and life insurance, there are ways to cut down costs for most people, and you can do the same for bills like car insurance, electric bills, and more.

Don’t Forget Savings in a Bare Bones Budget

At this point, your bare bones budget is almost complete. If you have the room, add a spot just for savings. It doesn’t have to be a large amount of money every month, but choose a number that you would be comfortable with.

Even with a bare bones budget, it is important to save. If an emergency were to happen, instead of putting yourself in more debt, you could fall back on your emergency fund.

A great starting point is $20 a paycheck, but again, choose what works best for you. You can always adjust this amount later on.

Schedule Your Debt Payments

If you’re reading this, chances are that you want to have a bare bones budget so you can pay off your debt. Once your bare bones budget is complete, it’s time to schedule your debt payments.

You should know how much money you owe and what you’re paying for every month, so now it’s up to you on how you want to pay off your debt. There are many strategies for paying off debt faster, and with a bare bones budget, you will know what you can afford and pay.

At the very least, automatically schedule your debt payments. Not only will this give you some time back in your day, but you won’t have to worry about making sure all of your debts are paid every month.

Whenever you make more money from a side hustle or your job, add that money to your debt and continue to live from your bare bones budget. This will help you get out of debt faster, so you can enjoy your money later.

Allow For Small Indulgences (When You Can)

Having a bare bones budget can make you a little stir crazy if you are working so hard with no play. However, you can still allow for small indulgences while on your budget journey.

Try finding free hobbies that make you happy, or go out for a small treat (like ice cream) when you hit another debt payoff milestone. These activities will help keep you focused and make you feel less stuck.

The most important thing to remember when creating and implement your bare bones budget is that this won’t last forever. Eventually, all of your debt will be paid off, and you’ll be able to enjoy your life much more. A bare bones budget is a starting point, but it’s up to you to stick with it and get rid of your debt.

Creating A Bare Bones Budget When You’re in Debt is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.