Now that you have increased your income as best you can, it is time to face the music and reduce your expenses. If you really want your budget to work, you’ve got to understand what will work for you. I have suggested some ideas for trimming your spending—but the decision is ultimately up to you.

Shopping is a dangerous activity for the chronic over-spender or the impulse buyer. So, if you know you fall under those two categories, take yourself out of the situation. If you tend to spend more money when you go to Target, resort to a different store or online shopping. It could keep you from being surprised by that Visa bill.

Don’t rent-to-own. You will definitely end up paying more than the item is worth but just how much more depends on the situation. Say you are renting a TV worth $400 and you pay $18 for 52 weeks. At the end of your payment, you have a $400 TV and the company you’ve been paying has $936. You’ve just paid over double for a TV that started to depreciate as soon as you bought it. Don’t let the small payments fool you; avoid these plans.

Also, if you don’t have one already, open a bank account. It will save you money when you cash checks or have other dealings with the bank. Plus it will encourage you to keep more money to satisfy whatever minimum is attached to the account. But be careful, look for free checking accounts that don’t come with hidden fees or a minimum balance that you won’t be able to keep. If you are denied an account, ask why—at least then you will be able to identify the problem and start fixing it.

If you can’t identify some expenses you can cut, it may be time to weigh the options.

Tags: bankruptcy attorney, impulse buying, increase income, opening a bank account, options for debt, overspending, reduce expenses, rent-to-own, trimming your budget

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 am and is filed under Budget. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.