By Chinkee Tan
It’s no secret when your paycheck is just enough, chances are your finances are challenged. But just like any other challenge, you still get a shot at succeeding!
You may have practiced a few budgeting styles or followed a strategy in dealing with your finances but up to this very day, you have not yet succeeded. If you are looking for possible solutions, allow me to share with you the “Four Spending Habits to Acquire When You’re Earning Just Enough.”
Learn the art of PRIORITIZING
First things first, prioritize your expenses. Prioritize needs first before wants. I know that you already know this, but the question is, are you actually doing something about it?
When you prioritize your expenses you keep your eyes on the target and you minimize the likelihood of squandering your money away. The most effective way of prioritizing your expenses is by making a list and sticking to it! Start with the non-negotiable: home bills, school, gas, medication, emergency fund, and paying off debt.
The secret to make this work is to stick to the list. If it’s not on the list, it’s not a priority.
Learn the art of COST-CUTTING
It is not how much you make but how much you keep. Even if you make R50,000 a month but if you spend P60,000 you will be in debt.
So if you think you need a new pair of shoes just because the pair you are wearing is exactly the same one in the pictures for the past six months? You strongly believe that coffee in an expensive coffee shop tastes way better than the one you make at home?
Whatever reason you may have in mind, the fact of the matter remains: You actually cut the cost of spending when you learn to maximize and appreciate the functionality of the things you have – an old pair of shoes will still have the same function as that of a new one, will it not?
It is for this reason that cost-cutting is considered an art because you only see its beauty when you truly understand the value that comes with it. Let us simplify and be more practical.
Learn the art of SELF-CONTROL
What most perceive as a harmless marketing strategy might just actually end up hurting your budget. Yes, I am talking about the S-A-L-E that usually greets you in very bright red colors.
While most people believe that they are able to save money when they purchase something that’s on sale, most of the time, they actually end up spending rather than saving. Remember, when you have no intentions of buying but due to lack of self-control, you end up buying anyway, its money lost.
Learn the art of using CASH
How many stories about financial difficulty have you heard just because of a tiny seemingly harmless plastic card that was misused?
Credit cards are tricky. At first, they give you an assurance that they’re on your side – emotionally comforting you by allowing yourself to indulge thereby upping your self-esteem until they become the very reason for your financial difficulty.
Using credit card is actually spending money that does not even exist yet. So when you do not take caution, this habit can harm your finances, big time.
You can have anything you want in life, you just can’t have everything you want – Peter McWilliams
THINK. REFLECT. APPLY.
Think about your spending habits, do they in any way harm your finances? What can you do to avoid this?
