Developing a monthly spending plan is easy, it is sticking to it that is difficult. Basically, one is never to spend more than one earns. Hopefully, however, this monthly plan will go beyond that necessity, and will routinely set aside a certain amount, even if this is only five dollars, that will be saved. Good bookkeeping is required. Buy a little book that calls for budgeting and makes entries in it daily. This need not be carried around, but kept on a shelf in a convenient place at home, well within sight so it cannot be forgotten. In a pocket or a purse, keep a small note book, shirt pocket size, and list every expense. Even if a quarter was put into a parking meter, list that. Then at the end of every day, transfer these to the big budgeting book. First of all , consider the bills that are permanent. The gas, electricity, water, telephone, cable, computer service provider, paper, and set aside money for these. Next come the incidentals that are necessary but can vary according to need and to how much money is available, groceries, doctor bills, allowances for children, entertainment expense, and so on. At first the monthly expenditure list is for analysis. An adjustment will be needed as soon as one learns how much money is being wasted on trifles on a monthly basis. And too, the habit of daily being accountable to what one has bought is becoming a habit. This very fact of persistence and patience will create good spending habits and will show, within a few months time, how foolishly money is being spent. A reason, or a purpose, must always accompany this monthly budgeting plan. No one finds saving money for the sake of saving money pleasurable, there must be a good reason behind it. Find out what that reason is, whether it is saving for the kids’ education, for a retirement fund, a long awaited vacation, to start a business, or whatever. Expect to be dipping once in a while into this fund for unexpected expenses — and this is in the final analysis, an excellent reason to save. No one knows exactly what will be happening tomorrow, or how one may suddenly be faced with unexpected needs for cash, so making sure that a portion of what is earned is saved if good money makes for good money sense. Make the monthly spending plan fit the lifestyle. There is no sense for a wealthy person to go berserk and out of sympathy start living like a poor penniless beggar; neither should a poor person overspend in an attempt to keep up with those who can afford luxury cars, vacations, prestigious colleges for their children and such. Yet, both should have a workable budget that will allow them to live within their means. In the long run, it is not how much one makes, but how well it spent, that matters. Put another way, money is not to be coveted for its own sake, but for what it can do for the owner or it, or how well it will take care of their family. Even a person with no family, need not forsake a good saving plan, they can choose a worthy charity that will benefit from the money saved. While money cannot buy happiness, it can go a long way in feeding the poor, putting a roof over the homeless, creating a more equitable society, while at the same time giving everyone a reason to respect what money when well spent can do. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society
