Some time ago I posted a question to my Facebook followers. “If you were debt free, what
could you do?” Some followers had big dreams and thoughts of having lots of money in the bank. Others however, were not able to see life without debt. In a survey conducted by Federation of America, it was found that 2/3’s Americans were failing or had made no progress toward building a savings, let alone hacking away at debt. While the other 1/3 were secure their financial lives. The number one reason given for the majority’s inability to succeed financially is American’s inability to live within their means. In our culture of buy now and pay later, Cash has been replaced credit as the societal norm.
My wife and I have, learned that, living within our means can be highly rewarding. With summer Stay-cations, free stuff, as well as the hundreds of dollars of savings offered by companies around the world, we have experienced that we could be frugal and fabulous. All it took for us to get there was a little planning, saving, and commitment, Here are some of the things that we did to start our move into the 1/3 of Americans who make building a savings a priority:
- Commit to learning about and using proper money management skills. The key thing in this endeavor is to acknowledge that you don’t know it all. This was hardest thing for me to do, but once I changed my way of thinking, learning and using the proper skills allowed me, and will allow you to change your life style.
- Tell your money where to go. Many financial advisers have said that people live from month to month allowing their money to tell them what to do. Once I started telling my money where I wanted it to go, I noticed that I had a lot more money to go around. Creating a budget and living on a budget allowed us to start making the baby steps needed for progress.
- You are your biggest debt. I’m sure we have all heard, Pay yourself first! Financial experts advise putting 10% of your income into savings. They also advise, putting a buffer between yourself and emergency’s. This emergency fund, will prevent you from having to spend on credit or take out loans when you are barely covering your living expenses. In addition, add a line item in your budget for some fun money as well.
- Stop borrowing money. When I first committed to becoming debt free, Living within my means meant I had to learn to stop borrowing money. Spending, on anything that I had to repay, had to go. Your income is your biggest asset building tool If it is tied up in paying back money you’ve borrowed, how will it ever help you exceed.
By setting a goal, committing to living within your means you can move toward a position of financial security. So I’ll ask again, If you had no debt and your full paycheck, what could you do?
Corey Stokes 