If you learn how to manage your money, it will enable you to live comfortably while increasing your wealth. If you are living from pay check to pay check and wondering how you are going to make it through the month, you need to stop and take a good look at your lifestyle, your income, your bills, and your day to day spending activities.
Depending on how you have done in the past, it can be relatively easy to find a way to control your spending habits. On the other hand, if your spending habits have gotten totally out of control, you may find it very hard to stop doing what you are doing. You need to stop, look at what you are doing wrong, and then make a plan to get moving on the right path to financial freedom.
You can make this a project in which you work alone, meaning you and your spouse if you are married, or you can enlist the services of a financial advisor.
•Note: If you are married, unless all of your income and other assets are handled as separate entities between you and your spouse, it will be very difficult to have an effective plan if you don't agree to work through this together.
You might ask, why do I need to spend more of my money paying a financial advisor if I am already struggling? The answer to that question is simple. If you can't afford to pay a financial advisor, you have to do it yourself. To be honest, most people work themselves out of debt. It's not easy, but they do it, and so can you.
Right now is the best time to start managing your money and doing the right things that will provide you with a solid financial foundation. Like all other bad habits, unnecessary spending is an addiction that is hard to break, but if you are serious, you can put a financial plan together that will break the addiction and start working for you. "Make your plan and then work your plan."
You have to learn to take control of your spending habits in a way that is beneficial to you and your family. Managing your money does not mean that you have to become a miser while denying yourself, and your family, the basic necessities of life, but you may have to make some tough decisions regarding what is necessary to maintain the lifestyle that you are accustomed too, and what is not.
First, learn to keep records of your income and spending. Income is the most important part of your financial well being because you can't function without it. Spending is also crucial because regardless of your income, if you spend more than you make, eventually you will go bankrupt.
You may have to stop eating out at expensive restaurants and start eating the old fashioned way, by cooking at home. You may have to forgo a planned vacation or put off buying a new car.
Some spending cuts hurt worse than others. You may have to take your children out of private school and put them in public school. It hurts, but you may have to do it.
If you are donating a portion of your income to charitable causes, it may become necessary to stop, at least until you get a solid grip on your own livelihood. You don't have to stop tithing or donating to charities or other good causes, you just need to scale it down for right now.
Remember, you can't take care of someone else if you can't take care of yourself. Once you become financially able, by all means, resume your donations, but it's important that you know that you have to take care of yourself, and your family, first.
If you make and implement a strict budget by setting realistic priorities and goals, and then keep track of how much you earn as opposed to what you spend, basic money management strategies will enable you take control of your finances and help you make wiser spending choices that will carry you into the future in good financial health.