Who Else Needs Personal Spending Guidelines?

Personal spending guidelines are just that, personal. You will not find laws anywhere that tell you how much you should spend or what percentage of your income should be spent on housing and other items. It's up to you as a person to decide what is appropriate for you and your family.

If your current personal spending guidelines include spending a lot of money on your mortgage and your clothing, you will have less money to spend on your utilities and other monthly bills. When this happens you may find yourself overdrawn with the bank or borrowing money from others or worse, from your credit cards to make payments. This is not good and will cause more than one sleepless night.

When you create personal spending guidelines and a budget, you will be able to look at the whole picture as far as your income goes and you will know how you need to adjust your spending habits.

Once you have the limits decided, you can create your budget. The budget will help you stick to the limits you have set up for yourself. It will also be a reminder of what you need to pay each month and where your money is going.

There are many ways you can help yourself and your family meet your personal spending guidelines each month. When you find something that works for you, stick with it. If you change it, you might find yourself over spending again.

One of the easiest ways to control your spending is to use cash. When the cash is gone, you can't spend anymore. When you do this, you leave your checking account for the bills only. Any extra spending such as going out to dinner, buying a new shirt, or going to a candle party will have to come from your cash. Think of it as an allowance for yourself.

Another way you can keep yourself on track with your personal spending guidelines is to purchase gift cards for the places you shop at the most. For example, if you find yourself purchasing candy and other frivolous things when you go to the grocery store purchase a gift card and that will help you control your spending. If you have one paycheck a month that is enough to cover all of the gasoline for the month, it may not be a good idea to leave that in the check book or have cash. It may be a better idea to either put it in an envelope or put it in a place where you will remember when you go to get gas. Alternatively, you can get gift cards from the gas station and have them specifically for the gas.

Setting limits for yourself and your family can be tough at first. It is important to set personal spending guidelines when you have goals and dreams in mind for the future. These goals and dreams could be as simple as taking a cruise as a family or sending your children to a great college. Whatever your reasons are, you should stick to it and make it happen. When you budget your money appropriately, you will feel better about everything and you will achieve your goals and dreams.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Darlyn Burkle of www.I-Choose-Us.com, offers resources to show women how to survive a depression and thrive through the financial crisis. The 52-week Money Saving Toolkit helps women save and earn extra money. It covers practical money saving tips for saving on food, utilities, mortgage, gasoline, entertainment, college education, travel, gift-giving, and more.

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