How The Internet Has Changed The Way We Use Money

Posted on September 1, 2021 by James Paul

The era of the online world has changed how people communicate, how we find and receive information, and how we live our lives. Specifically, the internet and technology have changed how people shop and manage their finances. You can look at just about any personal finance blog to see how technology has changed our relationship with money.

If we look back at how money was managed ten, twenty, and surprisingly fifty years ago and look at it in comparison to the way that people manage their finances today, there are some clear conclusions.

For one, people today have substantially more control and access to taking care of their own money. Also, arising financial trends sway the economy, how consumers invest their money and time, and how companies conduct their business.

Keep reading to learn more about the top money trends of the 21st century, including how money, shopping, and banking, have changed over the years thanks to the evolution of technology.

The Evolution Of Personal Finance

Personal finance has seen massive changes over the past century. Technology has allowed consumers to save an enormous amount of money and time since everything is accessible to them through a simple tap of a screen or click of a mouse. It has also bestowed a feeling of power over how to financially plan and save, spend money, and pay for bills.

We can likely expect that finance will probably see consistent changes in the future because of advanced developments and innovative technology, for example, new online services, new software programs, and efficiencies that will make dealing with our finances more convenient, practical, and most importantly, manageable.

Cashless Society

Over time, we, according to the evolution of technology, have moved into a more cashless society. We have seen going to the bank turn into quick trips to the nearest ATM, to the present time where a lot of our transactions can be accomplished using our gadgets. To some degree, the need for physical money has become unimportant, and through the COVID-19 Pandemic, physical money has been strongly discouraged.

This has directly affected how we spend and use money. A quick tap of your card or gadget and you’ve bought your morning espresso, or maybe you even pre-ordered your espresso via an app, so it was waiting for you when you arrived at the cafe.

Before COVID-19, the Reserve Bank of Australia led a study that upheld that physical money is being used less. However, it found that some people prefer using physical cash, especially the elderly, those with limited access to the internet, and those from lower-income households. That said, post COVID-19, it is to be expected that the money trend will intensify, even into those groups that have been, beforehand, resistant to the change as the goal health crisis has been a catalyst for structural changes. As per the RBA, since 2007, physical money has diminished from being used in almost 75 percent of exchanges down to roughly 30 percent in 2019.

Our Spending Habits

We currently no longer have to leave our homes to spend our hard-earned money. Nearly everything is now purchasable online, enabling you to quickly compare prices and have your purchase order show up right at your door.

New payment methods have been created in the ascent of but now pay later (BNPL), testing and switching the customary idea of lay-buy. BNPL alternatives like Zip Pay and After Pay permit you to receive your item immediately and pay it off after some time, either with or without interest-free periods.

The essential advantage here is time efficiency. These technological advancements have had a far-reaching influence and affected the way we value and perceive money.

How We Value Money

When money is in its physical forms, like coins and notes, we often place a higher value on the same amount of money than we would during a card-based or electronic transaction. For instance, you might find it challenging to go through $100 if given to you in notes, as you would be very aware of every cent you spent on that transaction. However, in comparison, you might tap away $100 on your card without even flinching or thinking about it too much.

More so with the younger generations, BNPL additionally adds to the allurement of impulsive buying. Knowing that you can buy something now for $80 but only have to pay $20 upfront. Eventually, it can give you a false sense of the value of the item, and you might find yourself purchasing things you usually wouldn’t purchase or overspending.

There are likewise unique behavioral instincts around money, which can become more challenging to manage in a cashless society depending on your money type. For instance, if you’re someone who spends a lot of money or gambles frequently, you might want to consider using physical money to help you to remember the amount you are spending.

Coronavirus Budget: Smart Money Moves to Make During the Pandemic

Posted on October 26, 2020 by James Paul

Not only did the Coronavirus knock 2020 off its feet regarding the health crisis, but most of America is also living in a financial one. The economic stability in the United States is making residents uneasy, having them question the future of their income and savings. However, there are always ways to ensure that your money will be well spent and won’t go to waste. Looking for ways to achieve your financial goals? Here are some ways to guide you:

Make a Budget

If you haven’t done this in the past, now is a good time to start. You can do this month by month, or lay it out for the year to come. Making a budget will help you compare how much you make versus how much you spend. You get to decide on your budget what you’re spending money on, and get a rough idea on how much you’d like to spend. This will keep you on track and let you adjust your spending to where you need to be as opposed to where you are.

Find Ways to Save on Groceries

On average, the American person spends over $2,000 per year on food, and that’s only for a family of three or less. The more you have in your family, the more you spend. While grocery shopping can add up, it is a necessity. According to Kupino.sk, shoppers who use coupons can save an average of $30 to $50 a week, which is roughly $1,560 to $2,600 a year.

Another way to save on groceries is to wait on products before purchasing them, that way you’ll be able to price compare with other stores. Kupino also states that even though price watching may be a long-term strategy, shoppers can save up to 30% on average just by watching the price of products fluctuate when they’re on demand. Keep this in mind when you’re shopping for foods like vegetables, pasta, coffee, and other popular products.

Have an Emergency Fund

This is the extra money you save in case something goes wrong. For example, an economic crisis. If possible, do not live paycheck to paycheck, as steady payment always isn’t guaranteed. It’s important to have money stowed away just in case that next paycheck doesn’t come. Although you may never expect something like that to happen, it’s always best to plan ahead, just in case. That way, if a hardship ever does happen, you are prepared with that extra bit of money you saved away.

Make Your Home Energy Efficient

You may not realize how much energy you use throughout the day. That is until you get your monthly utility bill. Now that many people are working and schooling from home, it can be easy to get lost with leaving lights on, using a bunch of electronics, and constantly using appliances like the heater, air conditioning, and other energy-guzzling tools. When possible, turn off appliances that require heavy energy use. If you’re not in a room, turn off the light. If it’s a crisp day out, open the windows.

Be aware of “vampire appliances,” which are appliances that use electricity even when they are “off.” Typically, that means these appliances are on standby mode. For example, a TV, electric clock, or anything with a timer takes up electricity even when you’re not using it because it’s running in the background. According to the Department of Energy, vampire appliances make up for about 10% of the energy used inside the home.

Travel Planning and the Advantages that it can Bring During Pandemic

While the Pandemic put a hold on a lot of traveling, that doesn’t mean you can’t plan out your next trip. There are many discounts that both airlines and travel companies are offering, and you can use that to your benefit.

Many travel companies also offered other forms of compensation for a canceled trip. Localgrapher, as well as other travel platforms, for example, launched gift card campaigns. This means that if you purchase the service right now, you can get a significant discount on the service that you can use on a later date. If you’ve already budgeted travel expenses before the pandemic hit, you can purchase gift cards and take advantage of other discounted offers from the sellers that you were originally considering either way. That way you are below your original budget and can use the cards and discounts at a later time.

The travel platform focusing on experiences worldwide, Tripduck, also confirms that many tour providers and services adjusted to the current situation of the pandemic. If you plan something for later this year or even in 2021, you can take advantage of the current offers and use them next year. Plus, you can support the travel industry now when it’s needed, making it a win-win situation.

Be Positive

This year has been mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. Although this may seem like a no brainer, you’re going to want to remain positive throughout your money-saving process. There’s no doubt certain days will seem harder than others, and it’s natural to worry about your income versus your spending, but you must remember to not dwell on things that are out of your hands. You must remain focused on your goals and achievements.

There is some truth to writing down your goals to make them more likely to be accomplished. In fact, you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down on a regular basis. As this has to do with how your brain functions, this keeps you motivated to pursue your goals.

Stop Making Excuses

This goes hand-in-hand with staying positive. It’s clear that the pandemic has taken a toll on the average person, however, you cannot let that stop you from getting what you want. While this is probably like the biggest challenge you’ve faced, there have been other hurdles you’ve dealt with. If you continue to push back your goals with excuses you keep making up, you will never accomplish what you’re setting out to do.

5 Money Management Mistakes You Should Avoid

Posted on October 24, 2020 by James Paul

Money management tips are dime a dozen. Search on Google with the keyword “money management” and see how many results instantly pop up. With so many tips out there, why do people struggle with managing money?

In this article, I’ll explain why. If you have failed to manage money in the past and never really figured out what you did wrong, read this article to the end.

Practice and diligence

The importance of the two cannot be overstated. You can’t master anything without practice and diligence. Whatever task you take up, no matter how big or small, without practice and diligence, chances of achieving success are slim.

Most people lack diligence. Money management tips don’t give results overnight. If you are following these tips, be patient. These tips work but only when you diligently follow them for over a long period of time.

Practice requires patience, which many people lack. They start out with enthusiasm but begin to lose it after a few months or so. This way, the effort they put in the beginning go to waste. Seeing their efforts not yielding rewards, they blame the tips. In reality, the tips failed because of their lack of patience, not because of outside factors.

The need for customization

The adage “not every shoe fits every foot” is extremely relevant when it comes to money management. Someone might have benefitted by following a particular strategy, doesn’t mean you’ll benefit much the same way. Hence, the need for customization.

Money management tips are mostly generic. Customization makes them personalized. How to personalize money management tips? Simple. Pick generic tips and then tailor them according to your earning ability and professional background.

Not every tip is useful for everyone. Saving tips would be useful to someone who makes a ton of money but doesn’t plan the future ahead. But people living hand to mouth would find those tips useless.

So before you complain that money management tips don’t work, make sure you didn’t follow generic tips but customized ones.

Not considering crisis situations

Ever seen someone, in the wake of a crisis, lamenting that their lives were great until the crisis threw everything off the track? I have. And I felt sorry for them.

I tried sympathizing with them, but a part of me held them accountable for their misery. Those people planned their future ahead without considering what’d happen in the event of a crisis. The lesson to be learned from this is that no matter how good of a planner you are, an act of God can make a mess of all your plans. Keep this in mind at the time of making financial plans, especially long-term plans.

Always save for rainy days. And learn to keep your hands away from the rainy day funds. I am not saying that by doing this, you could get yourself out of the hock. I am saying that you could greatly minimize the chance of your finances falling off the cliff in the event of a crisis.

Don’t follow conflicting ideas

It’s a general rule of thumb that the simpler and concise a strategy, the quicker you can expect results.

Money management strategies are aplenty. Following each and every one of them is impossible. Sure, the thought of adding more arrows (strategies) to your financial quiver sounds tempting, but it ultimately leads to a discordant mix of ideas. Instead, if you stick to one or two strategies, you’d get better and quicker results, and more importantly, understand the whole process of how you are getting results.

That’s one reason money management tips fail. People often lack the ability to select one strategy and discard other strategies. It’s so darn hard for them because they find multiple strategies useful and couldn’t make up their minds about which one to follow.

This is a rookie mistake. Look out for it if you are new to managing money.

Following non-actionable strategies

Following a non-actionable strategy is as good as following no strategy. Simply reading or listening to a strategy, and memorizing it is not enough. You need to put the strategy to use to see whether it secures the result you want.

The problem is you cannot put all strategies to use. Not every strategy is applicable. Tracking essential expenses, for example, is one strategy that falls into the non-actionable category. Why is it non-actionable? Because you cannot stop these expenses. Making a list of necessary expenses, therefore, is pointless as you can never cut down on these expenses.

One reason people fail at managing money is that they follow strategies that aren’t actionable. Those people must realize that they are at fault for choosing an incorrect strategy, and rectify their mistake.

Summing up

Follow all the strategies shared here, and let us know the result. And of course, don’t forget to experiment with them. Maybe by doing this you could come up with an even better strategy.

Important Steps to Make Preparing a Budget Easy?

Posted on June 10, 2020 by James Paul

Some call it budget preparation, some call it budget cycle. There’s nothing in the name as long as the process involves four crucial steps.

Keep reading to know what the steps are.

Find out your goals

It’s ironic that the most important part of preparing a budget is often considered the least important. A budget prepared without first figuring out what the budget-maker’s goals are, is bound to fail.

When making a budget, ask yourself how you want to spend your money. Do you prefer saving or are you a free-spending person? As I have mentioned in some of my previous articles, when it comes to finance, the one-size-fits-all approach just doesn’t work.

Why is finding out goals prior to preparing a budget so important? Because how much you’d save at the end of the month and how much you’d spend all through the month would be determined based on that.

If, for example, you have plans of attending a college or starting a business, the budget must either be based entirely around saving or there must be two budgets; one for managing livelihood and the other for accomplishing future goals.

Accurate calculation

Ever wondered what budget calculation actually means? Money is constantly flowing into your pocket and out of it in the form of earnings and expenses. Accurate calculation means tracking each gain and each expense and using them as insights to understand your present financial standing.

You might want to learn new skills to accurately calculate earnings and expenses in the monthly budget – skills like forensic accounting can help you a lot. Even without such skills, budget calculation is not that hard. Start calculating by separating your gross income from your take home pay. Stock dividends, additional earnings and rental income must be separately listed.

Similar to income, divide monthly expenses into two categories. Under the first category, put all expenses that are necessary. The second category must list the expenses that are not necessary but for fancy purposes like eating out, going to a movie theater, buying an Xbox, etc.

You’d be amazed to see how much insights you can retrieve from your monthly budget just by sorting income and expenses. And mind you these are all actionable insights, as in, you can act upon them. For example, you can use additional income to pay for all the unnecessary expenses.

Be ready to experiment

Most people have a conservative attitude towards budget preparation. They dare to experiment. In my opinion, one shouldn’t be hesitant at all. A little bit of experimentation with your financial life can prove useful in the long run, as long as you are not overdoing it.

Here’s an example; if your monthly expenses and savings are consistent for over a long period of time, say 8 or 10 consecutive months, feel free to introduce a new spending habit or channel some of your savings into the investment portfolio.

Another example; bring changes to how you execute the budget. Do you implement each and everything in the budget exactly the way you drafted it? Do you execute it as quickly as possible? Relax. Be a little carefree next month, indulge in spending habit and see what kind of change that brings to your financial life.

Run a cost-benefit analysis

Ask yourself, is there any point in preparing a budget and keep following it month after month without critically evaluating it? The answer is none. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, you should feel free to experiment with budgeting every once in a while. But being experimental is the first step.

The final step is to run a cost-benefit analysis. Once you list all the costs and all the benefits, weigh them up. Do the costs outweigh the benefits? If they do, you need to prepare a new budget from scratch. If the benefits far outweigh the costs, it indicates your budgeting method was perfect.

Without a cost-benefit analysis, budgeting is pointless. Imagine your financial life as a boat and the budget your prepare as its sail. The sail helps the boat to move ahead. Similarly, a monthly budget records all your spending and your earnings. When you revisit it on a later date, you realize in which direction your financial life was going back then. A cost-benefit analysis is the tool using which you evaluate the budget.

Bonus tip

All the four steps discussed here are important to maintain a balanced financial life. Here’s a bonus tip. Stop worrying too much and stop listening to every advice from everyone. Budgeting methods are a dime a dozen, but not all methods are suitable for everyone. It might take time to figure out which method works best for you. So, don’t be impatient.

Final thoughts

No matter what budgeting technique you follow, the four steps detailed here will come in handy. The best part of following these tips is that you get an objective view of your financial life, see things as they are, prepare for the future while at the same time enjoy your present, and most importantly, receive some key insights about your finances.

James Paul is a personal finance blogger at Basic Finance Care which provides valuable insights about personal finance and money management.

How to Save Time and Money When Developing a Mobile App

Posted on October 18, 2019 by James Paul

Mobile app development is not for the lazy or faint-hearted. No matter how educated or experienced you might be, bringing your idea to life requires a great deal of time and effort. It may even require a financial investment, such as hosting a marketing campaign or paying a designer to create certain visual elements.

The best you can do is find ways to reduce the amount of time and money required to develop an app. A great way to do this involves leveraging today’s technology. In doing so, you can bring down the length of the development cycle and stay ahead of the competition. Here are some effective ways to save time and money when developing a mobile app.

Prioritize Creating an MVP

An MVP or Minimum Viable Product represents the core functionality of your app. By focusing on releasing your MVP as soon as possible, you can streamline your development cycles and maintain a steady momentum.

It also allows you to obtain valuable feedback on your app that will help you shape subsequent versions. Worst case scenario, your MVP could reveal that there’s no market for your idea – but this is the biggest time and money saver of all.

Leverage Cross-Platform Development Tools

It can be difficult to determine which platforms you should develop your app for. On one hand, restricting yourself to a single platform limits your potential user base. However, developing for multiple platforms can be a painstaking process. Fortunately, cross-platform development tools allow you to get the best of both worlds.

By allowing you to develop for multiple platforms on the same codebase, you can eliminate the need to translate, rewrite and recompile your code. Some popular cross-platform development tools include Xamarin, Flutter SDK and NativeScript, among others.

Utilize Mobile Testing Tools

Testing your app for bugs, errors, vulnerabilities, and incompatibilities is key to ensuring that you’re putting out a satisfactory product. This process can prove time-consuming when you’re developing for multiple platforms and devices. Check out this list of mobile testing tools by The QA Lead that will help you automate and streamline the testing process.

Explore Your Ideas With Wireframes

Wireframing involves rendering a basic representation of your app’s user interface. By creating different wireframes, you can run through a variety of potential designs and structures in a short period of time. You can then follow up with subsequent wireframes to refine and optimize your concept.

A wireframe can be put together using graphic design software or even just a pen and paper. The simpler the process, the faster you can run through different designs. This way, you don’t have to go through the lengthy process of coding a new interface when exploring ideas.

Use Third-Party Assets

The internet is home to a plethora of third-party assets that you can simply drop into your development environment. This includes graphics, sounds, and even paragraphs of code. A few well-chosen assets can help you save time while still putting together a high-quality product.

Conclusion

Using these strategies can help you significantly reduce the amount of time you spend developing an app. Creating your own efficiency-enhancing strategies can pay off in the long run, so don’t hesitate to innovate.

Tips On Saving Money While Being Fashionable – Save Money on Fashion

Posted on August 19, 2019 by James Paul

Hair is an essential element of any woman’s body. The hair can give shape to a woman’s face, body, and confidence. In a salon, hair makeover and hairstyle are the first services women ask.

If you visit nuhairmedical.com, the experts say that the less-is-more approach on hairs usually is the best option. The lesser you fuss and fight, your hair will be more healthy, and you will be happier. The experts and stylists give their buckets of money-saving tips that can suit your beauty budget.

Use of ceramic metal round brush

Women spend more time doing their hair. The time of doing your hair will lessen with the use of ceramic metal around the bush. When you are blow-drying your hair, it can dry your hair faster, adding shine because the metal efficiently heats up. The brush stems some heat, and you can easily style using loose curls with the brush and blow dryer. The use of a ceramic-metal round brush will help cut spending of 40$ of hot roller sets and curling irons.

Emulsify and shake-up

Many women use too much of their high-end and expensive shampoos and conditioners. Indeed, you can save up and make those bottles last longer.

Squeeze a small drop into your palm then take several seconds of rubbing the shampoo or conditioner until it emulsifies into a rich lather. Remember that products like these shampoos are highly concentrated. If you are not aware, you will end up putting too much liquid and lose more money in your pocket.

Try using the balayage highlights

When summer, lighten your locks with highlights. Try the authentic-looking version called balayage. It is popularized by celebrities like Gisele Bündchen. The Balayage makes you sexy, subtle and requires little to no upkeep. It places the color casually through the hair with a pattern that naturally reflects the lightening of sun exposure.

Cover the part line

If you wish to cover grays, regrowth can be your battle. You temporarily mask the looks of grays with a hair dye pen-like Color Mark. However, if you wish to save 100 percent of your money, consider having gray hair as a new style and build your confidence.

Bangs are cheaper than Botox

Some women hide the age with their hair. The wrinkles in the forehead can bother any woman that is getting older. A wisp set of bangs is a witty style. It can emphasize your beautiful eyes. Take the option of having a sheer that can elongate in length if you move horizontally across the forehead. Styling those bangs will only cost you a few bucks. But a laser to treat your wrinkles can cost you hundreds of dollars.

Make your own Keratin treatment

Keratin is a hot buzzing word when it comes to hair management. Keratin is a protein that forms and strengthens the foundation of the hair strand. You need not buy expensive keratin for enhancing products. You can do the following

Blend two tablespoons mayonnaise, one whole avocado, one tablespoon coconut oil and one tablespoon olive oil, and leave on for 20 minutes,
If there is no Mayo, apply jojoba or argan oil to freshly washed hair overnight. Then wash out in the morning and get a similar effect

Above all, take advantage of student’s nights. Many salons are offering discount prices of hair makeovers during school opening season or any student events. You can save money while becoming fashionable.

Practical Tips for Sticking to a Budget

Posted on July 30, 2019 by James Paul

Although many of us do our best to stick to monthly budgets, this seemingly-simple task is often easier said than done. Because of impulse buys, unforeseen expenses and assorted indulgences, there’s little wonder as to why people consistently go over-budget. While sticking to a budget can be difficult, it’s far from impossible. As is the case with many things in life, practice makes perfect. The longer you engage in responsible budgeting, the easier it will become. If your budgeting skills could use a little polishing, the following tips are sure to come in handy.

Learn to Have Fun at Home

Frequent nights out are among the most common ways young adults burn through their money. While hitting the town with friends can certainly be a good time, it can eat away at your savings if done with enough regularity. So if nights out have made a dent in your personal finances, you’d be well-served by learning to have fun at home. This will provide you with more time to indulge in your favorite hobbies and catch up with your media backlog. Furthermore, this doesn’t mean you’ll never get to see your friends. Instead of hanging out at pricey locales, you can invite your crew over for casual gatherings, game nights and other low-key events. To ensure that you’re able to earn ample interest on all the money you’ll save, take care to open a high yield checking account.

Abstain from Using Credit Cards Whenever Possible

In certain hands, credit cards can be debt magnets. While a good credit card can be a lifesaver in an emergency situation, using one for everyday purposes can adversely impact your finances. With this in mind, make a point of using cash, checks or bank cards for things like groceries, gas and the occasional meal out. Once your on-hand cash is gone, you’ll have no more money to spend, thus preventing you from going over-budget. Buying now and paying later can certainly be tempting, but this approach can come back to haunt you in a big way.

Plan Your Meals

Dining out on a regular basis can cost hundreds of dollars per month. This is particularly true for people who never bring their own lunch to work. Fortunately, you can eat your fill without making a dent in your finances by planning your meals. At the beginning of every week, plot out what each meal will be and acquire the appropriate ingredients. Although this involves more work than going to restaurants, the money you stand to save should prove well worth your efforts.

For many Americans, budgeting is an uphill battle. While it’s impossible to predict every nexpected expense you’ll be faced with in a given month, a solid budget can prove invaluable in keeping your savings intact. On the flipside, the absence of a budget is highly conducive to mounting debt and financial insecurity. If you’ve never before adhered to a budget, doing so for the first time is liable to present a challenge. However, after sticking with it for a few months, responsible budgeting will seem like second nature.

How to Save Money and Positively Change Your Life

Posted on July 23, 2019 by James Paul

Did you know that only forty percent of Americans have enough savings to cover a thousand-dollar emergency? That figure is shocking. That means that if they have an emergency medical bill to pay, or their vehicle needs an emergency repair, they do not have the money to pay for it. Are you in that position?

Saving money may not be a priority right now. You have bills to pay, groceries to buy, and a roof to keep over your head. However, you need to make it a priority so that you avoid the risk of facing the consequences of not being able to pay for something that is critical. The good news is that if you manage to avoid any emergency demands on your money, you have a nest egg for your old age. It’s a win-win situation.

People often have the wrong mentality about saving money. People are influenced by their emotions when they make consumer decisions. You need to start thinking with your head and not your heart.

Here are two ways to mentally change your spending habits:

Name your money

Don’t just think of the money in your paycheck as dollars and cents. Think of it in terms of housing money, groceries, entertainment,and savings money. If you refer to the money with the name it is designated for, it tricks your brain into understanding the value of it and what it should be used for.

Don’t think of money in relative terms

The problem with seeing money in relative terms is that we make bad decisions. An example is that you may find a product online for $40, and then from another website for twenty dollars. You’ll buy from the site where you save $20. You look for another product, it’s on sale for $1,000 dollars, but you see it on another site for $980. You again save $20. However, the savings you make are vastly different – you’ve saved 50% on the first purchase, but only 2% on the second. Our brains tell us that we saved $20 on each – but the real value of each $20 is different. This example is using high-value items, but you need to apply the same thinking to the lower cost purchases that you make.

Changing the way that you think about money is the first step to saving.

Now you need to address your spending. Do you know where you are leaking money? Not keeping abreast of your expenditure means that you are at risk of losing money that you could be saving.

Record your income and expenses

Take the challenge of keeping a spending journal for three months. Use a journal to document every dime, dollar, and cent that you spend every day. You can then input your expenditure into a spreadsheet on your computer. Use your bank account statement and credit card bills to fill out the spreadsheet, so you get a complete picture of your financial situation.

You’ll have columns for housing, groceries, utilities, travel expenses, clothing, leisure and a column for sundries. Sundries are those costs like dry cleaning, coffees, takeouts, etc. Some of the costs that you list are set each month, and some will be influenced by events that are beyond your control -birthdays, Christmas and weddings, for example.

You also need to log any income that you have.

Set a budget

Recording your spending over a three-month period will allow you to calculate your average spending so that the figures are not thrown out by expenses that are regular but not monthly. You can now assess the data that you have collected.

The first thing you need to check is whether your income covers your outgoings. If you are getting into more debt as each month passes, you have to take emergency action and fast.A more detailed examination of your expenditure will reveal to you where you can save money. Savings can be made on non-essential items, so set a budget that covers the essentials.

Make better financial decisions

Seeing your budget in black and white can kickstart some big changes in your lifestyle. It is highly likely that you are shocked about where you are spending your money. That’s good though; it will motivate you to stick to your saving plan! This is your opportunity to make wiser financial decisions.

Are you spending too much on utility bills?
Is your medical insurance the most cost efficient?
Do you need that subscription for the gym that you don’t go to?
Could you take the bus into the city rather than paying for fuel and parking?

Think about the choices you make when it comes to spending. If you tend to put purchases on your credit card, it can be wiser to take out a loan to cover the costs, especially if they are for an emergency. This means that you may have an opportunity to pay the debt back at a lower rate than the credit card offers. Here’s a helpful page about loans that have no credit check. You should also investigate whether it makes sense to consolidate any outstanding credit card bills and pay them off with a loan.

Automate your savings

With the greatest will in the world, it can be hard to delegate money for saving. Revert to the paragraph above about naming your money. Once you have the mindset that you are going to save X number of dollars a month, you need to set up a separate savings bank account to hold the money. You can then automatically set your main bank account to send the amount each month to your savings account automatically. Aim to send between ten and fifteen percent.

Saving money is critical; critical for your future but also for your present. You don’t know what the future holds, what challenges you will need to overcome and when you might need to rely on your nest egg to survive. By reframing how you think about money, assessing your spending habits and changing your lifestyle to suit your wallet, you will be able to save.

Year End Budgeting Strategies – Tips for Adjusting Your Budget for the End of the Year.

Posted on December 1, 2018 by James Paul

With back-to-school season fast approaching and winter holidays just a few months away, it’s a perfect time to re-evaluate your budget for the end of the year. The last half of the year can be expensive with increased costs for kids, tons of gifts to buy for the holidays and lots of family visits for big meals. All of these things lead to increased monthly expenses that can put you in a bind if you don’t plan ahead.

You need a plan for keeping the end of year budget spending to an optimum level. No matter how much you try, the holiday seasons can dampen your effort of keeping the cost low.

So what you need to do? You will need a plan and strategy for your end of the year budget spending. This article will tell you some of the practical things you can do to save up for your end of the year spending.

Here are some suggestions:

Calculate your Expenses

To get your finances ready for the end of the year, start by looking at what expenses you have coming up specifically. The following list provides some questions you can ask to help get you started:

What, if any, are your back-to-school expenses?
Do you have family coming in for Thanksgiving or the winter holidays?
Do you plan on taking any trips at the end of the year?
Who are you buying gifts for and what do you want to get each person?
Will your salary be increased or decreased by seasonal employment cycles?

All of these factors can have a big impact on your budget and your bottom line, so it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you don’t end up struggling to make everything work. It’s important to be a specific as you can in estimating expenses, as well as any salary adjustments you may have in the last half of the year.

Plan Where you Can Cut and Adjust the Budget

Once you know how much available cash flow you will need to cover the any costs, you can start adjusting your budget now to ensure the money will be available when you need it. This will help you avoid buying too much on credit at the end of the year and ending up in a bind when it comes to your finances.

To free up additional cash flow, look to cutting or reducing any discretionary expenses from your budget, which are things you spend money on regularly but don’t necessarily need. You can commit to cooking more fresh meals at home or taking your lunch to work to reduce your dining costs, or reducing your entertainment budget.

Estimate the cost for your End of the Year Budget Spending

If you evaluate the upcoming costs and you see there is going to be a problem with your budget at the end of the year, don’t wait for it to become a problem before you find a solution. Many consumers’ budget problems are caused right now by holding too much debt for their budget to handle. Developing a strategy to reduce debt quickly or consolidating debt will reduce your monthly debt payments so you have more cash flow available for the coming months.

Debt Reduction Strategy

Assess your budget to see if you can implement a debt reduction strategy to reduce debt on your own. If you won’t be able to reduce the debt fast enough, contact a nonprofit credit counseling agency to discuss your options for debt consolidation with a certified credit counselor. You may be able to reduce your debt payments by as much as 50 percent.

Make sure that you are not adding to your debts. Your strategy should be to cut the unnecessary cost and save more for the end of the year spending.

Start your Holiday Shopping Earlier

Don’t wait for the last moment to shop for the wedding. If you are on a tight budget, you will need to think before you buy. Last moment shopping may lead to disastrous decisions. Shopping early will also provide you with opportunities to buy stuff at lower cost. As the festive season approach, shops offer discounts on new as well as old products. Here you can have a win-win situation. You can buy the best products at lower rates. Besides, when you divide the task of shopping into multiple days, you will be more relaxed and have more time to think and buy things.

The Bottom-Line

The end of the year budget spending is an achievable goal. All you need to do us make some adjustments to your spending. In the end, you will have plenty of cash flow for the festive seasons.

Enjoy your holidays without worrying about the cost.

The Buyers Guide to Car Covers

Posted on September 11, 2018 by James Paul

There are many different types of car covers available on the market, and before purchasing one, it is important to find out which cover is best suited to you and your car. You will need to ask yourself a few basic questions; Where do you live? What type of climate do you live in and what is the general weather conditions there? Where do you keep your car? Do you keep it in a garage or on the street?

What is your budget?

These are three basic, fundamental questions, that when you can answer them fully, you will be able to select the perfect cover for your car. Where you live will very much depend on what type of cover you get. Someone living in Phoenix for example, will not need to purchase a cover that specializes in the area of waterproofing. It would be a sheer waste of money for such a person. Better he should use that money and get a cover that concentrates on being ultra-violet resistant.

There is a cover for almost every type of climate. There is different combination of resistance and at varying level. Hence there is a cover for everyone, no matter where you live, so it would be a shame not to be able to get a cover that would prove to be most advantageous for you, and your their car.

The next question, about storage, is also vital. You may live is a very wet, and rainy climate, but if you keep your car indoors, is it so necessary to spend the money on a waterproof acura car covers? Your car is anyway shielded from the rain when kept indoors, but needs other sorts of protection from indoor damage. Indoor covers tend to be cheaper, as they do not need so many combinations of resistance, and you would otherwise be wasting your money. However you will still want an indoor cover that has some type of protection against rain etc, for that odd, occasional outdoor use.

Lastly, budget. For some, this may have been the first question, but I have put it last, as I believe that you cannot completely decide you budget before sorting out the type of protection. I believe so, simply because a person might totally under-cut himself, and then end up with an inadequate cover. This, in my opinion is a waste. He will still have to then spend money on things like car-washes, polishes etc, and in the end would have saved more had he bought a more expensive cover to begin with.

I put budget the last because once you have chosen the cover, you choose the size, and this varies in price. There is the universal cover which will fit any type of car, no matter what size. This is of course the cheapest type as it can be mass-produced. However people don’t always like to buy the universal size simply because it doesn’t look so nice. Often there is lots of excess material hanging around the car, and it doesn’t look so pleasant.

The custom cover is tailor-made for the car. It will fit the car like a glove, and maximises the type of protection offered. A custom cover looks very sleek and chic and therefore lots of people tend to buy it. Naturally, this works out the most expensive though.

The last size is called a semi-custom. It is a compromise between the universal and custom. It is made to fit a selection of cars that are of similar shape and size. Therefore the fit is better than the universal, but not as snug as the custom. This is cheaper than the custom, hence it is often termed ‘the happy medium’.