If your family is like most families today, you may be finding it difficult to make ends meet from one paycheck to the next. Or, you may have found yourself trying to find ways to balance your family budget in order to boost your savings. Regardless of what your current situation may be, it’s important to develop an understanding of your family’s finances in order to meet both present and future goals.
Tracking Outgoing Expenses
The first step is to understand where exactly your money goes. There is a good chance that you already have a fairly good idea of how much you spend on bills, but families frequently find that their outgoing expenses contain more miscellaneous items lurking in the recesses than they thought there were. By developing a system that tracks every single one of your expenses for as little as one or two weeks (but preferably for at least a month), you can gain a much better idea of where your disposable income is actually going.
Sales do not Necessarily Equal Savings
One of the most common traps that many families find themselves falling into is spending money on sales items by using the implied savings to justify the expense. Unfortunately, this type of behavior does not actually save you any money unless you had actually planned to purchase the item in the first place. Waiting to purchase items during off-season or when they go on clearance can certainly help to slash expenses on items you already plan to purchase but otherwise the cost of the item is simply another extraneous purchase. After all, why do you think stores hold sales? To get you to buy stuff you wouldn’t ordinarily buy!
Planning Ahead
Another common area where many people encounter problems with their family finances is failing to plan ahead for recurring expenses. There are some expenses that most of us face each and every year and which can be reliably counted on, such as birthdays, holiday gifts, anniversaries, taxes, insurance, etc. These are all expenses that can take a toll on your finances. If you do not plan ahead for such expenses, you could find yourself resorting to pulling out the plastic the next time you need to purchase a gift.
A better solution to help balance your family’s finances might be to plan ahead instead. Look back over the past year at your finances to determine approximately how much money you spent on such items. Divide that number by twelve and then make a commitment to putting away that much money each month in an account that is reserved for just such purposes.
Get the Kids Involved in the Family Finances
If you have kids, you are likely already well aware that kids learn by observing. Far too frequently, families try to shield their kids from the finances. In many cases, this can create a situation in which kids grow up with an unrealistic view of finances. A better option might be to discuss finances with the whole family and get everyone involved in recognizing financial limitations and setting goals for the future. You might even find that before long the kids begin to have fun in developing new ways to save money. This can be particularly true if there is a significant reward involved in doing so, such as taking a family vacation at the end of the year.
Getting a handle on the family finances may at first appear to be a challenge, but by taking the time to track your finances and look at where your money is really going, it can become much easier to implement strategies that can assist your family in both setting and attaining financial goals for today as well as for the future.
See Also:
- Bad Financial Advice Abounds
- The Wealthy Buy Assets, the Poor Buy Liabilities, and the Middle Class Buy Liabilities Believing They Are Assets
- Teaching Your Kids Money Management Skills
- How To Develop Winning Money Management Skills
- How to Choose a Financial Advisor
Recommended by Amazon:
- The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family’s Financial Health
- How to Have More than Enough: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Abundance
- The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke
- Quicken Deluxe 2013
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
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