Times are tight, the holidays are coming, and you’re tired of the budget. Boo hoo.
Seems you haven’t quite figured out that the best money-saving strategies are, more often than not, the simplest ones.
If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Sage advice in these uncertain times.
Here are some more DO’s and Don’ts on Budget Basics:
- DO recognize your bad spending habits. Your neighbors are never as impressed as they appear to be.
- DON’T kid yourself. If you don’t have the money for a purchase when you hand over your credit card, chances are good you won’t have it when the bill arrives.
- DO yourself a favor. Set goals for major purchases, and look for ways to reduce unnecessary spending while setting priorities.
- DON’T blame anyone but yourself for financial chaos. Those designer shoes didn’t follow you out of the store on their own.
Budgeting and saving is hard work, and don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t, but with a little self-determination (no, make that a lot of self-determination) and planning, you’ll sail through, especially when times are tight.
Banner photo by pbo31, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.
