A few years back my wife and I both owned businesses and were doing well for ourselves. We bought the nicest things and charged and spent at will, which was the easy part. One day, after feeling like I had the flu for about three weeks, I finally ran out of steam and ended up in the hospital for two weeks and recovering for another two months. Luckily my wife had tucked a rainy day fund away and we survived through this. For the first time in a long time we had to make tough decisions on our purchases and ultimately decided to put some rules in place, in case her or I were ever out for an extended period of time.
We set up 10 basic rules:
Rule 1- If we are to purchase any item over $200, we must both agree it is needed
Rule 2- Any purchases made with a credit card must be able to be paid off within 90 days.
Rule 3- Once a year we will sit down and make a plan for any major purchases, such as home improvements, appliances etc.
Rule 4- At the end of each week, we will sit down and pay ourselves first, deposit any extra money into savings or investments.
Rule 5- Everyone must be involved even the kids, they must learn how to live within their means
Rule 6- Eating out will be cut from once per week to once every two weeks, the extra money will go into our savings.
Rule 7- Fill up the tank at the beginning of the week in both vehicles, allows us to shop for the best gas price, not get it when your on fumes.
Rule 8- Lunches will come from home at least 4 days per week for everyone
Rule 9- The mall is taboo! Discount stores have the same products for less.
Rule 10- Shop for price, use coupons and buy in bulk when an item we use a lot of is on sale.
Set the bar high! If you keep track of what you spend everyday for one week, you will be surprised. The coffee, lunch, snacks, cigarettes, convenience store stops and other frivolous purchases. I did it for one week and I was surprised, so I took the numbers and figured out that I could save $60 a week on just coffee and lunch!You can take that $60 and pay down debt, save it or invest it!
Finally, I am not the only success story in doing this, you can do it too.
See How You can Live On a Dime.
We set up 10 basic rules:
Rule 1- If we are to purchase any item over $200, we must both agree it is needed
Rule 2- Any purchases made with a credit card must be able to be paid off within 90 days.
Rule 3- Once a year we will sit down and make a plan for any major purchases, such as home improvements, appliances etc.
Rule 4- At the end of each week, we will sit down and pay ourselves first, deposit any extra money into savings or investments.
Rule 5- Everyone must be involved even the kids, they must learn how to live within their means
Rule 6- Eating out will be cut from once per week to once every two weeks, the extra money will go into our savings.
Rule 7- Fill up the tank at the beginning of the week in both vehicles, allows us to shop for the best gas price, not get it when your on fumes.
Rule 8- Lunches will come from home at least 4 days per week for everyone
Rule 9- The mall is taboo! Discount stores have the same products for less.
Rule 10- Shop for price, use coupons and buy in bulk when an item we use a lot of is on sale.
Set the bar high! If you keep track of what you spend everyday for one week, you will be surprised. The coffee, lunch, snacks, cigarettes, convenience store stops and other frivolous purchases. I did it for one week and I was surprised, so I took the numbers and figured out that I could save $60 a week on just coffee and lunch!You can take that $60 and pay down debt, save it or invest it!
Finally, I am not the only success story in doing this, you can do it too.
See How You can Live On a Dime.
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