You’ve probably seen those ads that promise to help you lose 25 pounds practically overnight? I don’t know about you but I’ve always been a bit skeptical about them. However, you can build a rock-solid budget in about six months. Why six months? Because it generally takes that long for budgeting to become an ingrained habit.
An emergency fund first
First, you should build an emergency fund. Of course, this is totally counter to what you’re usually told, which is that you need to first track your expenses. But in this case, the recommendation from an article I found on Yahoo News is that you need to build that fund as fast as you can. This should be the equivalent of a few months’ wages in an account where you can quickly access the funds.
So an emergency is…?
It’s also important to define what an emergency is. Your emergency fund is money you should use only for a real emergency like when the transmission falls out of your car or water starts to spill out of your water heater. It’s not like you suddenly need a new outfit for an evening on the town. For that matter, it might be best to keep your savings in an account at a different bank or even better, in one of those online savings accounts.
Start downsizing
Once you have money tucked away for an emergency, it’s time to begin downsizing. While the logical solution is to increase your income, instead of decreasing your spending, cutting your spending is the true answer. The more area you can put between your income and your expenses, the more money you’ll have to pay down your debts and to invest in your future.
Focus on your goals
Budgeting can seem really nasty if all you’re doing is focusing on what expenses you have to eliminate and the things you had to give up. You need to have a mix of both long–and short–term goals to keep yourself motivated. A short-term goal can be something simple as saving for a special vacation or even something big like buying a new car and paying cash.
On the other hand, some long-term goals might just be yardsticks on the way to your overall goals. As an example of this, you might want to put away $20,000 in a retirement account before you turn 30 or to be free of debt in five years. It can be very satisfying to watch these goals slowly but surely come true and provides even more motivation to work harder at your budget.
Find new income
Why isn’t your first step to find new sources of income? It’s because if you just increase your income and have no budget, your gains tend to fall through cracks and then disappear. When you have your budget and more money coming in than is going out, you can begin investing to get more income. It’s best to get rid of your debt before you start investing.
How to get rid of that debt once and for all
If you have so much debt it just doesn’t seem that it could be paid off gradually over a period of time, you should look into debt settlement. Our debt relief providers are so confident they can help you become debt free in a reasonable amount of time that we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. It’s pretty simple, too. If you are ever unsatisfied with our recommended debt relief programs you can cancel at anytime without any penalties or fees. Call us today so we can get started helping you find relief from your debts.