How to Budget your Money
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Introduction
In these days of financial crisis it is more important than ever to be able to budget your income. There are some people who find budgeting their money easy and satisfying and there are others who cannot seem to come to grips with financial management for the life of them. The people who have no problem managing their money don’t really understand the people who find it difficult. Where there is real poverty in a household, not managing your money is understandable but when there is a reasonable income and still the individuals find themselves getting deeper and deeper into debt then that is down to just sheer bad management.
In David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Mr Macawber gives a discourse on the concept of budgeting. He states “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound nought and six, result misery.” His message is that is you spend a penny more than you get you will always be poor but if you spend a penny less then you will always feel rich. And he is absolutely right.
My grandmother always used to say ‘cut your coat according to your cloth’. During the war we made all our own clothes but even material was rationed and so shorter skirts became the fashion and boys always wore short trousers to save on fabric. Being a clever seamstress she would make skirts out of coats and my brother’s trousers out of skirts and oddments of material. Any scraps of fabric left over were used to make rag rugs. We all had to learn to manage and make do and improvise.
Since those days the standard of living has improved out of all recognition. We have become the throw-away society and people like myself who experienced the shortages of war, find it difficult to get rid of anything because we are stuck with the mentality that ‘it might come in useful one day’. The younger generation however have been raised in a more affluent society and as a result take it for granted that they can just buy things they want and need. We also have the constant advertising to subliminally impose the message that ‘we can’t be happy unless….. or loved or desirable’ so it makes it difficult not to buy things especially when credit is so readily available. There are tempting offers within our grasp every day and it’s difficult to resist when we are led to believe we might never get such an opportunity again.
The result of all this mind-bending is that the personal debt in the US & the UK is the highest it has ever been. One financial analyst explained that when personal debt is high in any country then recession will inevitably follow, and the greater the individual debts the deeper the recession that is to come. This is something I found to my cost when I first set up my website development business. Although I was making good money I took on more than I could really afford and the business got into debt. But by good management and financial budgeting we have gradually pulled things back and are now back on an even keel.If you are someone who has difficulty managing your money and do not know how to keep your finances under control then keep Mr Macawber’s words in mind and read on to learn more
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Change of Mindset
People who find it difficult to manage their money seem to have a certain way of thinking or mindset. Attitudes and values are learned from our parents in early childhood, but that does not explain why one child in a family will have good financial control and another will not. Sometimes it may be an opposite reaction to our upbringing or it could just be a quirk in someone’s nature. If you are loaded then spending money freely is not a problem, but if you are on a limited income or just never seem to have enough, then living within your means looks like a good idea.
One of the first things you need to understand is that people who are selling things are in business to make money and they want their businesses to grow. To do this they have to increase sales, so they aim to make things irresistible to customers like you and me. So remember the next time you are tempted by an impulse buy, think about the fact that some big guy out there is taking your hard earned cash and raking in the profits and leaving you broke.
I know you are saying ‘but I want it’. OK let’s back track a minute. Why are you out shopping in the first place? To buy the things you need. Did you make a list? Is the thing you want on your list? Did you forget to put it on your list? Do you have enough spare cash to buy the items not on your list? And so on… So the impulse is strong. If you see a child in the supermarket demanding sweets or some other treat and the parent says no and the child has a tantrum, what are your thoughts? Do you think ‘spoiled brat’ or that the mother should give into the child’s demands. Because really, lack of control when out shopping, is about the same as a three year old child having a tantrum. At that age a child wants instant gratification and some people stay stuck in that phase and never learn to wait or work towards what they want.
So are you a grown up and do you really want to be debt free? Having the equivalent of a three year old tantrum is to have no thought to the consequences of your behaviour. That thought process which goes ‘I know I shouldn’t but I am going to have it anyway’ is usually a substitute for some other need that is going unfulfilled. Or ‘I have worked hard and I deserve a treat’. Then you have to ask yourself what will make you happier in the long term, a treat you can’t afford which will make you feel guilty when in debt or becoming debt free so you can afford those treats without feeling guilty. Maybe being debt free is just a nice idea like some fantasy that is so far in the future that it can never really become a fact. One of the ways to change your thinking is to ask yourself, ‘who is the best person to benefit from my hard earned money? Is it the big companies who are making loads of profit already (Fat cats) paying their executives million pound bonuses, or me?’
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An example from my own experience of changing a mind-set occurred when a friend was visiting us. She confided in me that she had some money given to her and wanted to invest it securely for her son’s further education so that nobody else could get at it. On discussing the options available, she confessed to an anxiety around money and fear of doing the wrong thing. This caused her to abdicate from making any decision at all. I said I enjoyed the online banking system and being in charge of moving my money around and how easy I found it. I offered to show her how to go about it and find the best decision for the investment of the capital. At that point she obviously did a mind shift because after she had thought about it for a minute she decided she could handle the online banking system. Together we researched the best way to safely invest her money to make the most of what she had and then she opened an account and set the whole thing up. Since then she has got over her phobia and when I checked with her at the time banks were failing, she said the investment she had made was still safe.Sometime you may need to resist the urge to buy unnecessary items but if you still have difficulty curbing your shopping habit, take a friend or relative with you on outings. Someone you can trust to steer you away from temptation.
In the example above we made the online banking fun and treated it like a game and in that way my friend could think in a different way about the issue. So give yourself permission to think of being in control of your money as being fun as well as a practical way to remove the stress you experience around finance. Some of the hang ups people have about money may come for example, from an impression gained in childhood that being careful with money indicates to the world that a person is mean and conversely being reckless equates with generosity and open handedness. This is faulty thinking so changing your ideas can lead to a stress free existence where you have more energy to enjoy life and the potential to make even more money.Carry only a minimum amount of cash on you so that you are not tempted to fritter away £20 on some impulse purchase you don’t need. Those pounds add up fast and before you know it a hundred pounds in your pocket is gone.
The Road to Liquidity
The most difficult part of improving your financial position is to admit there is a problem and then be able to face the veracity of your situation. When someone is on a spending spree they are out of control and out of touch with reality. They are in a fantasy ignoring the cost and the consequences of overspending (ie. How is it going to get repaid?)
The basics for personal finance and business finance are fundamentally the same. Money going out needs to be less than money coming in and anything left over is profit with which you pay yourself or spend as you want. If the finances in your personal life are out of control then the same will be true of your business situation unless you have someone who takes charge of the money management for you. I run my own website design company and if you are like me the temptation is strong to buy all the latest gadgets. But if you can think yourself into a new mind set you will find it much easier to change the habits of a lifetime. Be sure that all expenses are accounted for when you take stock of your situation.
In the case of a company, records have to be kept for the tax man and this is usually done on a computer programme for that purpose.
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The principles of money management apply equally well to business as to the personal. If you are on a regular income and you are finding is still hard to manage your money then there are some basic strategies you can employ to help yourself.
The first thing you need to do is keep an accurate record of all the money going out and what you spend your money on. At this stage do not try to change what you normally do. Get yourself a cash note book and write down all the things you can think of that you buy. This includes household bills and food, mobile phone, TV. Put a figure in the corresponding column. If you have actual amounts put them in, if not make a guess and correct the figures later when you have them. Every time you take money out of your pocket/wallet/credit card/bank, write down how much it is and what you use it for. Leave space for the things you won’t remember or may even not consider them expenses. Beer, cinema, clothes even the coins you toss to street entertainers. Categorise it as fun money or entertainment funds.
Do this over twenty eight days, by then you will have a comprehensive list of your monthly expenses. Where there are annual amounts divide by twelve and add to the list. These will be things like TV licence, car tax and MOT and insurance both for house and car. Make a total at the bottom of the page and on the opposite page write down all of your income. When I did this I discovered our monthly outgoings had crept up so that suddenly the income did not cover it any more. If you enjoy using your computer put all the figures on a spread sheet so that they can be added easily and changed whenever costs go up.
Compare the totals. Do you spent more or less than you receive? Is your life going towards happy or miserable? It is at this point you really need to make a shift in your mindset. Think carefully and decide how your life is going to be. Not a fantasy, but a reality check. Decide you are going to be the one in charge of your finances not some other person who is trying to take it off you. Remember the saying ‘A fool and his money are easily parted’ so don’t be a fool. Think smart, be smart.
If you have more than one source of income notice even when small amounts come in and think ‘at least it’s coming in not going out’.
It is probably unrealistic to say cut up your credit card because this is usually the most convenient way to pay for petrol and grocery bills. But make sure you have only one credit card, and find one that gives points for purchases. These mount up and you can claim vouchers to spend in your favourite stores. Also find a credit card that will take the full amount by direct debit from your bank account every month to clear the balance so that you don’t miss payments, accrue interest charges and generate a large fine. Realise that you actually have to pay for credit and it can be expensive.
Learn to be tight fisted when it comes to parting with your money. Look around for the best deals and always ask for a discount for cash. I went on a negotiating course some years ago and the following week I put into practise what I had learnt. I saved £200 on purchases just by asking! Make a list when you go shopping and only buy what is on that list. OK, some things you may have forgotten to put down but make sure you avoid the impulse purchases. Keep a list in the kitchen and only put things on it when you have run out. Use up products in the Freezer to reduce waste and keep spending to a minimum.Become a prudent shopper and consumer. Try and use up coupons and saving a few pence per purchase can really add up. Searching through clearance sections or 3 for 2 items in supermarkets is another way to save money. Treat it like a game and you may be pleasantly surprised to see how much you can reduce your bill on your usual grocery haul.
Conclusion
Alvin Hall is a well known TV personality that hosts a programme about managing your money. To me there is nothing earth shattering in the advice he gives, but what the programme does do is make sure people actually take action. What he offers is a common sense approach to dealing with debt and how to recover your liquidity saying “Don’t spend what you haven’t got”. He talks about being ‘in charge’ of your finances. When you think about people who manage their money, well that is exactly what they do. Once you conquer your shopping demons and you have your finances under control you will feel proud of yourself and have a great sense of accomplishment. Budgeting is a matter of common sense, so don’t be overwhelmed, grab that pen and paper and get on track to a debt free existence and get your life back.
