Managing Your Bills in Today’s Economy

December 1st, 2011 | Budget, Money, Personal Finance, Standard of Living

bill Right now, it has never been more important to manage your bills and get your finances under control. The economy is going through a particularly rough patch, food and gas prices are going up and it can be pretty hard to make your paycheck stretch each month. If you're finding it difficult to keep up, now is the time to start making some changes before you get in over your head.

Most people really don't realize how much they spend every single month. The vast majority of Americans do spend more than they make, and many of these expenditures are for non-essentials. There is one very important thing that everyone should do to determine whether or not they over spending. For a period of one month, keep a log of absolutely everything you buy or pay, from that pack of gum to the bills you pay.

At the end of the month, add up everything to see just how much you spent. Chances are you may be pretty surprised at just how much is going out the door. If you are spending more than you are making, or if you are not putting anything in a savings account or investments, you need to figure out how to cut some of your costs.

Go through your month's log and split everything up into two columns. The first column should be your essentials, such as rent, utilities, car payment, insurance, phone and groceries - but not eating out. Total all of this column to see how much you have to spend every month.

Now put everything else in the second column and total this one up as well. This will be the amount where you can start cutting some expenses. Go through the list one more time and check off the things you don't think that you can do without. Put these in a third column. Everything else should be examined in that second column and reevaluated. For example, if you are spending $100 every month eating out, you can easily cut this in half and put $50 aside.

All of these little expenses add up quickly and before long, we're overspending without even realizing it. Once you have everything divided up into three columns you can determine what kind of budget you want to work with. Your goal should be to put as much money aside as possible.

Once you free up some of that cash, you'll need to work on creating more income so that you don't have to live quite so frugally. Consider using this to create another stream of income through an investment or opportunity. This can help free up more money that can be spent on non essentials, or that income can go back into another income stream. If you don't have any available cash to do this, consider leveraging a loan to create an income stream to take the pressure off of your paycheck. This can really make a difference in how much money you have coming in every month.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-12-06 12:12:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

How to Evaluate Your Financial Risks Whether we realize it or not, many of us face financial risks every single day. From the high powered investor, to the minimum wage earner, every one of us has the potential to lose everything we own. How can you evaluate your financial risks and find ways to secure your......
Money Management Questions and Answers How can money management techniques be applied to my life? - The first step is to realize that you could possibly have an overspending problem. This is the number one reason why people get over their head financially. You can easily consult with a money management counselor that will help......
Creating a Budget 2 Now that you know where your money is coming from and where it is going, the next step in this budget creation process is going to be for you to break all of your expenses up into two different categories, separating your fixed expenses from your variable expenses. Fixed Expenses......
3 Reasons Why You Need Multiple Streams of Income One of the hottest concepts right now is the premise of creating multiple streams of income. While everyone wouldn’t mind making a little extra cash, there are even more benefits that can be reaped from having more than one source of income. Let’s go over just a few of them.......
Easy Personal Finance Tips When you’re trying to save for the future and still manage to eat, it can be tough to find that right balance. We all need to plan ahead and having a savings account really is essential. This can be a cushion or that “rainy day” money that you need, and......

Related Websites

What You Need to Know When You Buy Paper Money Collecting money is one of the many different ways that you will be able to enjoy your spare time. It is a hobby which is not only fun, but can be profitable as well. This is because there are many different kinds of currency that you will be able to......
Why It is Important to Get Your Currency Graded by the Paper Money Guaranty As a collector, you are sure to be aware of all of the different pieces that you have in your collection as well as what their value is. You know this because you know what their grade is above all else. If you do not know what their grade is,......
Get to Know More about Coins and More There are certain things that you will be able to do whenever you have free time. Among the different things that you will be able to do is that you will be able to get everything that you will need to satisfy your interests. These different hobbies can include just......
Get to Know the Difference between Collecting Coins and Paper Money When it comes to collecting currency, there are many different types of collectors. There are those collectors that prefer to collect coins while others prefer paper. There are even divisions within these as to those who enjoy collecting rare pieces and others who only buy and sell the new notes.......
Preventing Injuries While Triathlon Training pt 1 In our athletic careers, many of us have experienced injuries. Some of these setbacks only seem to sideline us for a couple of days or a couple of weeks while others are capable of ending our careers. It is important that you learn how to listen to your body before......