Financial Friday

It’s July 20th and we’re full swing into the second half of 2012. Today we’re going to exercise your money muscles and revisit your 2012 budget. Are you on target? Fallen off the budget bandwagon? Now’s the time to get back on track or start fresh if you’ve never done your budget before. Begin by looking at Dave Ramsey’s financial budgeting website on www.daveramsey.com. He offers a free tool that can give you a good idea of what you should be spending in various categories such as household, food, clothing, etc. It’s called Gazelle Budget Lite and did I mention it’s FREE? He also offers help in controlling your money at his website called www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com.

Whether you are debt free, up to your knees in debt, or over your head, you need to take a look at these sites. Stop being a slave to your debt!!

Then, I suggest you estimate what you need to spend over the weekend (not WANT to spend, but NEED to spend) and draw enough cash out of your checking account to meet those spending requirements, and give your charge and debit cards the weekend off. It’s amazing how using cold, hard cash versus plastic can keep you from overspending. A Dunn & Bradstreet study found that people spend 12-18% more when using credit cards than when using cash. And McDonald's found that the average transaction rose from $4.50 to $7 when customers used plastic instead of cash.

Financial freedom is within your reach, and it feels FANTASTIC and much better than any instant gratification purchase (and it lasts a lot longer, too). Start fresh today, and have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Coach Linda