money management

5 Money Must Dos

Good morning Loves.  So often people talk about how much money they have, doesn’t that just make you sick, I mean jealous? I love a good success story but what I really love is hearing about how people save their money and enjoy it.

It is definitely important to save money for long term goals such as retirement, but are those people who save everything really, truly happy?  I truly believe it’s also very important to enjoy our money in the short term. We are working hard for our money every day, so why not use our money to our advantage and do what we love?  That’s what I say.

If you want to always have money in the bank you need to spend less than you make.  It’s that plain and simple.  There is not a one-win money management solution for everyone, but there are some things we can do to manage our money wisely.  Of course there are a few things that we shouldn’t do such as live off debt and not save for an emergency.  There are also a few things that we can all do to help our money grow without sacrificing our lifestyle.

I think that good financial management means we save for our long-term goals while enjoying our money in the short term. If anyone tells you differently they are lying.

5 Things to Always do with your money:

1. Save automatically every single pay check.  There is absolutely no better money management strategy than saving automatically.  I am one of those people who can’t keep money in my bank account because I spend it.  I like my savings to be automatically transferred out of my bank account into my various savings accounts automatically with my pay check so the money is out of my checking account before I wake up.  This way I can enjoy the money that’s left in my account and I don’t have to worry about not having enough to save.

2. Plan for your short term goals.  Short term goals give us something to look forward to.  I don’t know about you but I always have to be working towards something.  Saving for a year and taking a trip to some great place gives me motivation to keep saving.  I like to go on vacation and not worrying if I will have enough money.  But without having short term money goals I think I would be less motivated to save.

3. Increase your automatic contributions every year.  If you get a raise every year it’s a good idea to increase your savings by the same percentage, even if it’s only a difference of $5.  This helps us constantly save over the years.  It also helps our savings grow with our income and with inflation.

4. Be realistic with your money.  There is nothing worse than setting an unrealistic money goal and not achieving it.  I know some people say we should set high standards for our goals because it helps us keep motivated.  But not me.  I like setting a goal and achieving it.

5. Pay your bills on time every month.  I used to be so guilty of this and that’s because I didn’t know how much it was hurting me.  Being late on cell phone payments, our cable bill and other monthly utilities as well as our credit cards really hurts our credit score.

Photo by slgckgc

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