Tips for managing your finances
Fri, 04/24/2009 - 19:08
This may be the last week of Financial Literacy Month but managing your finances is a year-long endeavor. Tell us tips you use for managing your finances.
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This may be the last week of Financial Literacy Month but managing your finances is a year-long endeavor. Tell us tips you use for managing your finances.
at home
My family doesn't have cable TV or high speed internet, because that takes up a HUGE amount of money. We watch movies or play board games for entertainment. Also, we are in the process of renovating our house, and instead of hiring a contractor, we design the rooms ourself, tear out the old wall, sheet rock, and paint the room ourselves. The only thing we need a contractor for is plumbing and flooring. It saves a huge amount of money!
My budget
I hear that most people do not like budgets, and that it may be our very nature, as humans, to hate budgeting. for me, this is not the case, I have laid out my budget as follows, 5% donations, 10% savings, 30% debt payments, and 55% for everything else. I think the reason I enjoy my budget so much is because I've been watching my credit card bill decline by hundreds of dollars over the summer, and I'm looking to pay off my bill entirely here soon. Also, I enjoy donating, and finding out the different non-profits and social institutions from which to donate to, I really look forward to giving this small percentage of my money away each time I'm paid.
Managing Credit Cards
We change almost EVERYTHING on credit cards that rebate. We pay the balance every month. Our rebates add up to approx. $1,000/yr. My brother-in-law who is an accountant didn't believe me until I showed him our accounts. In short our Credit Cards pay us almost $100/month to use them...every little bit helps!