1) Make Money
Sounds silly but you have to have an income to prepare for the future. Want supplementary income? Get creative – check out online course to expand your skill set or commit to one to two nights out of the week for either extra work or creating a business on the side.
2) Pay Yourself First
As soon as you receive your paycheck, put a percentage of it into your savings account. It should be a minimum of 15 to 20% of your income. Do this faithfully so that you will have something to fall back on in times of trouble. Do not remove the money from the account for anything less than a dire emergency.
3) Keep Only One Credit Card
Many people end up with bad credit because they have more than one credit card. They charge all of their cards up to their limits until they can no longer afford all of the monthly minimum payment. The finance charges associated with credit cards are HUGE and just a couple of times being charged can completely throw you off track. If you are late paying your bills, you will then be charged a late fee of up to $35 dollars. You should only use your card in times of extreme emergency or for large purchases.
4) Avoid Stuff Spending
Before you purchase something you don’t need, stop and check-in with the emotional tie as to why you are buying it. Are you unhappy? Do you not feel confident? Do you feel like you deserve it? Focus more on the emotion and deal with that first. Whatever it is that you are about to buy will only temporarily satisfy those emotions – but never in the long term. That is why it is important to deal with that emotion first so the stuff-spending-emotional-feeding cycle will stop.
5) Use the 14 Day Rule
Impulse buying gets all of us in trouble. We all like new and fresh things, looks, styles etc. but those thrilling emotions of getting something new can get us into trouble. If you don’t need it, walk away. Wait two weeks, and if you are still thinking about it, wanting it, really can’t live without it, then you’ll know if it is worth your while to spend your money on.
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