Personal Budget - Up until a year ago, I was in major debt. Though I was not rich, I did make a fairly decent income. I just didn’t understand why I never seemed to see my debts disappear. It was really frustrating and confusing. Finally, after watching the Oprah show and seeing a few financial experts talking about how to get out of debt, I began to change my lifestyle. The best piece of advice that the experts continue to give, was to keep and maintain a personal budget. I’d never thought that I’d need to keep track of my daily expenses, but it sounded like a good idea. I wasn’t a compulsive shopper and barely even headed to a retail store, so having a personal budget didn’t make much sense to me. I thought that I’d try it for 30 days and see what I discovered.
The experts advised writing down every single penny that you spend each and every day, so I set out to do exactly that. I would create a personal budget and learn how to pay off my debts. I was determined. After the first week, I looked over the items that I’d already written on my personal budget chart. I was amazed at how much I’d spent on coffee and eating out for lunches. After a month, I noticed how the lunches and coffee had really added up, as well as little purchases as well.
On days that I was running late for work, which was at least twice a week, I’d take the toll road to make better time. That habit ended up causing me to spend an extra $20 per month. The $1.50 cups of coffee each day, which didn’t seem like much to me, added up to almost $50. Getting my cats special treats from the grocery store, which wasn’t necessary for their survival, had me spending an extra $10 each month. After adding up some other unnecessary expenses that I made during the course of a month, I realized that I was spending almost $250 on things that just weren’t necessary. If I’d cut down on half of those unnecessary expenses, I’d be able to put some of that money towards paying off of my debts.
I also became much more conscious of other things that I was doing. I made more of an effort to turn lights off in my house when I wasn’t using them. I kept the house a bit cooler than normal. My electric bill dropped a few extra dollars by simply being aware of the things that I could do to change my financial situation. Was it easy to make and stick to a personal budget Absolutely not. There are some months what I find myself slipping a bit, but overall, I’m saving more money than ever before. My debt is slowly decreasing. Plus, I’m saving myself some extra money just by being more aware of my spending habits. Having a personal budget has definitely been something that has made my life so much easier.
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