How to Handle Money
While it is true that money cannot buy everything, there are definite advantages to having enough money. You aren't continually fretting over how you will pay your bills and meet your other financial obligations. Instead, you are able to meet your needs and provide for the needs of others who depend on you with a minimum of stress. In these demanding times, it is absolutely critical that you become skilled at handling money so you can make the most of what you have.
You must consider the value of all the money you spend, even seemingly insignificant sums. If you agonize over major purchases to the point of paralysis but continually allow a dollar or two to slip through your fingers here and there through unnecessary small purchases, you are no better off than if you had blown the entire sum on a single ill-considered extravagance.
Here are some things you can do to help get yourself away from anxiety about money and into a situation in which money works for you:
- Choose a lifestyle that is within your means so you are not continually stretched beyond your capacity.
- Plan your expenditures. However, be aware that the plan is always the first casualty of contact with the enemy and keep enough flexibility to accommodate unavoidable unanticipated expenses such as vehicle and appliance repairs.
- Prepare a budget laying out your regular expenditures for the month. If you have trouble keeping to a monthly budget, you may even want to lay out weekly budgets.
- Do not throw away your receipts. They are a valuable way of tracking your purchases and seeing if money is disappearing to a habitual small purchase that could be eliminated.
- Do not rely on credit cards for daily liquidity. Although they can be useful for major purchases, particularly mail-order and online purchases in which you have fraud protection and ability to dispute the purchase if the goods are not delivered, buying everyday purchases on credit will dig you into a hole that may take years to recover from.
- Eliminate extravagances. Examine your habits and lifestyle for unnecessary expenses that can be pared away.
- Apply critical thinking skills to your purchasing habits. Avoid panic buying and think through your needs and expectations before buying products.
- Take good care of your health. Unhealthy lifestyles can be very expensive in the long run when the resultant health problems set in.
- Avoid gambling. The lure of the big win will lead you to spend more and more, until it becomes a bleeding hole.
Although money cannot buy happiness, we are almost always happier when money is our servant rather than our master. By following these simple precepts, we can help to make our money work for us instead of against us.
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