Money management is much easier to control and understand if you create a well thought out and realistic budget. How do you know what a realistic budget looks like? First of all, you need to recognize that while it is important to cut your spending of frivolous items and daily trips to the vending machines you should still create a section in your budget for fun. This will prevent you from feeling deprived while managing your money, but once that money is gone for the month your spending will have to cease as well.
When creating a budget to manage your money you should begin by writing down all of your fixed monthly expenses. This would include your rent or mortgage, insurance, phone and Internet bills, electric and anything else you receive a monthly bill for, along with their amounts.
Take a close look at each of these items on your list. While some may be unavoidable, there may be others that you are either paying too much for each month or can eliminate altogether. A classic example of this is your phone bill. Many people pay way too much for a cell phone and a land line. If you have reliable cell phone service in your own home and a good cell phone plan, cancel your home phone subscription. If you feel you are paying too much for cell phone service, switch to a prepaid card. You can purchase a $20 card and make it stretch for the entire month. This will allow you to manage your money better.
After you successfully scrutinize your fixed monthly expenses, look at how much you are currently spending on variable expenses such as groceries, dinners out, gas, cable, clothing and entertainment such as movies. It is important that you look at a realistic account of how much you spend in each of these categories. This will allow you to make realistic adjustments.
Dinner out is another one of those classic examples that can kill money management efforts. If you and your partner eat out once a week you will spend somewhere around $200 a month or more depending on how expensive your taste is.
There is nothing wrong with treating yourself every once in a while for special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, but you are throwing your money out the window if you frequently dine out. Set a limit to the number of times you can eat out that will fit comfortably into your budget. If you can realistically afford to eat out once a month, set the date on your calendar and make it a special night.
Money management skills begin by disciplining your budget. Once you have determined a specific amount of money you can spend each month in each category of your budget create envelopes for each category and label them. One envelope will be for groceries, one for movies, one for gas, etc. Then place the exact amount of cash you calculated in your budget into the envelopes. This money will have to last an entire month, so pace yourself. If you have extra money left over in one of the envelopes when the end of the month rolls around then you can treat yourself to an extra movie or fun activity, or maybe even save it.
If you can follow the budget you have set for yourself, you will be well on your way to having good money management skills.
There are a set of ironies in place when it comes to the American mindset on steroids. They are, most simply put, an advantage designed to make the process more efficient and improve performance. Our lives are filled with things designed to make things more efficient. From email to cell phones, to just about anything in your house, we have become a society which benefits tremendously from the use of more time, which these things provide.
Likewise, our society has embraced the many things which improve our performance. We enjoy coffee in the morning because it delivers a boost of caffeine, which makes us more alert and energetic. We take aspirin daily to ensure our hearts perform better. We undergo surgeries when necessary to extend our lifetimes. We do whatever we can to get more pleasure out of life, and do it with greater abilities.
Yet, Americans get very upset when they learn of athletes who are using performance-enhancing drugs to excel on the field. They curse them as cheaters and brand then as losers. They are mocked for the remainder of their career, and the stigma never goes away.
Without the use of drugs in sports, the level of quality seen on the field would quickly plummet. Imagine your favorite baseball player hitting 45 fly-outs instead of home runs. Imagine the best football players only able to run a 4.8 instead of a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash. Imagine the quality of games declining when your favorite players no longer were able to do the things they can do today. Remember, the steroid-induced baseball derbies of the late 1990s and early 2000s will never be replicated due to strict drug testing in baseball. Do we want that in all sports?
Is it the moral conflict which bothers them? It shouldn't be. Most people tell ten white lies a day at their jobs. From complimenting a co-worker with a terrible haircut to telling a spouse they don't look fat, we have no problem changing the truth to fit our own personal set of needs. If you asked a hundred people who would tell a lie to win $1000, you'd have at least 99 "yes" responses. So the moral aspect of things shouldn't come into play.
What is the source of this contraction? Perhaps it is jealousy. As youths, many of us watched professional sports and dreamed of performing at that level. At some point, those dreams were dashed by age, family, injury, or just plain "not being good enough" to advance to the next level in a particular sport. What is the solution? Think it through. Realize what it is about steroid use in sports that infuriates you.
Both Michael Russell & Dane Fletcher are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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