Planning Ahead
What do you think of that title? Just another article about the
impossible task of trying to predict the future. Not this time.
This is an article that may give you some ideas on, not how to
predict the future, but to be ready when it gets here.
Naturally, I'm talking about your finances. When it comes to
your regular bills and expenses many of us have a hard time
making plans to pay the bills that we know are coming. What can
we do to plan for the unexpected?
All to often when we have an expense that wasn't neatly placed
in our budget we grab the credit cards. Needless to say this is
just what the credit card companies are hoping for. If this
persists the result is serious financial problems. It all boils
down to spending more than you make each month.
To avoid this you need to have money put back to cover your
unexpected or unplanned expenses. As always this is easier said
than done if you are already struggling. But, like we used to
say in the Navy, "The difficult tasks are a piece of cake. It's
the impossible that takes a little longer".
First, what do you do if you don't have enough money? You either
cut your expenses or you get more money. It's just that simple.
Your best bet is to cut your expense as much as possible and
still be able to have enough money for the essentials. Check the
web. There are thousands of ideas online to help you save on
your expenses. Use search words like "saving money, cutting
expenses, etc.". You can start by visiting the following sites:
TheFrugalShopper.com http://www.thefrugalshopper.com
GreedyFools.com http://www.savingadvice.com BetterBudgeting.com
http://betterbudgeting.com Debt Smart http://www.DebtSmart.com
The Stay-At-Home Parents Page
http://www.thestayathomeparentspage.com Brighter Futures
http://www.brighterfutures.com Freebie Haven
http://www.121fun.com Tidbits from the Pantry
http://www.humansrv.net Usave2day.com http://www.usave2day.com
MoneyMakingMommy.com http://www.moneymakingmommy.com Dollar
Stretcher http://www.stretcher.com
Now lets get into some possible ways to bring in more money.
Everybody I know has a talent that has the potential to make
extra money. Even things like holding a monthly yard sale can
bring in some money. I would suggest that if you need some extra
income that you sit down and think about what talents you have.
Then try to picture how you could use those talents to earn
money.
My daughter, a stay-at-home Mom, wanted to earn some extra
money. Just recently she brought some pictures to my house that
had a magnetic backing, perfect for displaying those cherished
pictures on the refrigerator. After we discussed it we decided
to make this service available on the web. The easiest thing to
do is to forward pictures as attachments to email so that is the
way she going to start. A customer places an order and sends the
pictures, she prints them using the software she has on her
computer and mails the pictures. Eventually, she will get a
scanner and customers will be able to mail her their pictures.
Presto, she has a service that almost everyone would like to
have.
This is just an example of taking what you have and making
something out of it. No, you may not make a lot of money at
first but it is money that you didn't have. Try to find
something that doesn't cost you a lot to get started.
Just one caution. There are almost as many scams on the internet
as there are users. A rule of thumb if you are going to try to
earn money on the internet: If you have to pay to make money
with their offer then it's usually not a money maker for anyone
except them.
Now, back to the topic. There are a lot of us having money
problems and not all of these can be solved by cutting expenses
or earning a little extra money. What can solve many of the
problems is knowing what state your finances are in. Prepare a
budget and stick to it. Look at it often especially before you
make any major purchases. Know whether or not you can afford
what you are buying. Put money aside to cover unexpected
expenses. If you don't have it, find it.