How To Avoid Living Paycheck To Paycheck

If you are earning less than $100,000 a year, you are most likely live from paycheck to paycheck. Most of us under that line usually work until the next check comes and continue to do so until retirement. We are so busy worrying about the bills we have to pay and getting to work on time we completely miss the in between. Most Americans end up stretching their paycheck to cover expenses. The worst part about it is not having any savings for unexpected emergencies.

How do you avoid this pitfall? Just take three easy steps to control what happens once you get paid.

Watch What Your Money Is Doing

You already know your fix expenses so make a budget and stick to it. The fixed expense budget ensure that you are cover for important things like housing, food, and all utilities for the month. Now you know everything extra after that is optional so you can control how much you spend. Remember you are living on a paycheck that you only get on average twice a month. Learn to curb extra spending that is not necessary to keep more of your money.

Make saving a Priority When You Get Paid

Saving is not easy for most of us, and it can be hard to see money in the bank and not spend it. Regardless of how you feel everyone needs savings to cover themselves whether you are worth $1000 or 1 Million dollars. Start small to save just a little of your money, "I save 10% of my check every month no matter what". If you already know exactly how much you will be paid set up an automatic transfer every month to your savings account. The idea is to have a part of your income put away to invest in other ventures and have money put away for a rainy day. To put your savings in perspective, saving $100 a month equals to $2200 a year. The key is discipline to understand that your savings are not to spend when you want, it is to save for a better future. Secure your account where it is not easy to transfer that money back to spend on unnecessary expenses.

Cut Out Unnecessary Expenses

Expenses can sneak up on us before we know it, that is why it's important to remove the fat. One of the ways we lose money is ignoring the small amounts we lose to services we no longer use but continue to pay for every month. Think of expenses you have on a monthly basis besides your fix expenses. So you need to start making a list of all those subscriptions you have. Think of that gym membership you may have, how about streaming subscriptions that you may not be using anymore. Even if you are paying $8 a month, it adds up to $96 at the end of the year. Imagine you have 2 to 8 bills with the same or higher charges taking money out of your account every month. If you are no longer using the service it has to go, clean up your expenses to keep more of your hard earn income. It may not seem like a big deal to lose that $8 a month, but you would be surprised at how much you can save by years end. Focus on what you need, what is important and make sense for you to spend money on.

Living paycheck to paycheck may be the way of life for the majority of people around the world, but it doesn't have to be your way of life. All you have to do is check on your cash flow to make sure more money coming in your account than you are spending. Start saving a little each month so you can eventually have your money working for you.

How To take Your life back from Debts

In my previous blog "Why You Work Smart, Not Hard" we talk about how time is a precious commodity that once it's gone, you can never get it back. When I was in debts, I realize just how much of my time was taking from me. Debts take from you in all aspects, it takes your time, happiness, and crush your dignity if you allow. Learning to balance your income and expenses will keep your life balanced. If you are currently working for money, try living below your means to ensure you have a little left over for rainy days.

Start by Understanding How you Got into Debt. Never look at life with mistakes, look at every event as an opportunity to learn. Understand how and why you accumulated your debts to avoid a future repeat of the same error. Addressing the underlying issues enable you not to go back to your old spending habits. The problem is not your debts; it's the bad habit you have acquired that builds debts.

Decide on the best approach for your current dilemma

Stop, don't panic, assess the situation before you come up with any solution. Crisis can seem much worse than they are if you panic so take a deep breath to understand what is going on in your life. The best solutions come to us when we use our brain power to assess instead of making assumptions about the situation.

“I join a debt management plan program to help me cut back on interest and set a monthly payment plan I could realistically stick to.”

My debt management plan worked for me because it allowed me to lock in my monthly payments and avoid high-interest rates. If you decide to join a debt management plan first think of your fixed expenses, next add your payment amount for your plan, and now you know how much cash you have left over. Gather all your debts and your income for the month and get quotes from debt management companies. Once you start the program, they lock in rates on your interest or eliminated them all together, lowering your debts considerably.

As long as you are responsible, you can still have a credit card, own a home, and take vacations. Take the time to understand interest and charges on your cards, learn to create good spending habits. When paying back your credit cards, if possible, pay more than the minimum payments or pay the balance off.

It only took me about six months to develop one of the worst habits of my life, frivolously spending money I did not have. After all the credit card debts had come in the mail, it all became real. One day I had a nice bank account balance well over $5,000, the next day it was not even enough to pay my debts.Not controlling your money and accumulating bad debts is a financial suicide mission. All you have to do is take care of your money; it will take care of you. Learn to cut all unnecessary expenses, keep track of your money no matter how little or big your account balance. Keep track of all your spending's and your income, use balance sheets and income statements. Taking the time to track your money will make you or break you financially. It is not just about how much you are making, but how much are you keeping after expenses. Earning money is great, keeping most of that money is even better. Conquering your debts require more than paying the bills every month, you need to overcome your debts permanently. Create and follow logical steps to get out of debts successfully.

Learning to control your money is learning to control your life. You need to acquire skills, practice monitor and build towards the future. Creating these kinds of characteristics traits will allow no room for failure, you can focus on becoming the best version of yourself.

How to Gain Financial Freedom Starting With the Basics

Financial freedom is something that just about everyone dreams of every day, but only a handful ever achieve. In today's society, everything in your life cost money, home, travel, food, and even water comes with a price tag. Financial freedom allows you to live the life you a have always dream about with no worry, stress, and plenty of time to spend with the ones you love. People always say that money does not bring you happiness; they are right money by itself can't make you happy. The reason you need money is to allow you the freedom to live a luxury lifestyle.

Gaining financial freedom is not just luck, it's not magic, it is knowledge, the financial knowledge that allows you to make educated decisions to win! You need to use the right tools, acquire the right information and methods to achieve success.

Creating financial freedom is not easy by any means, the lessons, practice, errors, and time it takes is exhausting, but then again so is working 8 to 12 hours a day for over 40 years. You want to fix your life, gain success, and improve your future right? It all starts with the basics.

It is crucial to start with the basics in anything that you want to accomplish. You need not only to be aware of them but understand them fully. The basics will the be your foundations, just like any structure that's built on a strong foundation you will be doing the same. Building a healthy individual to reach financial freedom starts with a strong foundation in you.

Let us build a guide to learning our four Basics to continue on the path to financial freedom.

Examine yourself:

It is important to consider yourself as an individual and be honest about what you find to be successful. Personal traits are what we are talking about, analyzing your personality. Think of the good and the bad to see yourself as others around you do. Examine your attitude towards the world, do you see your glass as half empty or half full? If you feel like you are entitled to great wealth go out a create it with knowledge and working smart. Walking around being negative about your life only make people feel uncomfortable when they are around you. You will push people away from you and close a lot of doors and opportunities along with them.

Mental clarity is important to accomplish anything you do, and when it involve money you need it more than ever. Your mental state may not seem important when it comes to gaining financial freedom, but it is a part of your life that can make or break you. Hindering one's success with self-dought and low self-worth is possible. You need to see yourself as valuable before anyone else can.

Stop Negative Thinking:

Those negative thoughts as got to go! Whenever you think something can go wrong, or you are not worth it, you are bringing bad luck your way. It never helps to think poorly of yourself in any situation; you need to have pride and believe in yourself. When have you ever looked down on yourself and it has made your circumstances better? Use a mental mind trick if you will, allow yourself to believe that the situation is going to work out. When you set your mind to win the action you take will mirror your thoughts and gain you success. Personal growth to gain financial freedom is about first believing you can succeed in your current predicaments to achieve the finances you need to be financially free. Getting negative thoughts out of the way allow you the freedom to dream big and take actions.

Know the true meaning of Wealth:

Many people make the mistake of thinking financial freedom is about having a lot of money. Erase that thought right now! Having money and having financial freedom are two different things. Your wealth dictates your financial freedom.

Wealth is "The number of days you can survive, without physically working (or anyone else your household physically working) and still maintain your standard of living." from Rich Dad's Cash flow Quadrant

In other words, you need to create wealth that takes care of itself and you without having to do physical labor. It is important to understand that wealth can come to anyone, the key is keeping that money and continue to build a prosperous future. You need to be responsible, smart about the actions you take that delivers a fruitful future.

Understand That you should think of others:

It is true that money alone has never made anyone happy, but it does make life easy to enjoy and the opportunity to give back to others. It is more than just being wealthy yourself, understand without other people you would have never reach your success. Take some action steps to ensure your success and to make a difference in at least one other individual's life. Learn to fine tune your primary instrument, yourself! Take the time to improve your mental and physical health. Read more books, take classes to improve your knowledge, improve your nutrition for better health. Make the commitment to living a healthy lifestyle overall to achieve your dreams in life. Develop those skills that you already have; you can never know too much in my opinion so always search for knowledge. Take your current skill sets, practice them every day for improvements, continue to find ways to improve yourself. Build loyal connections and set yourself up in a society where you are valued, respected, and loved for who you are and what you believe. Now you will be free and able to help those around you that need a helping hand in their life.

Helping others start with your building yourself as an individual and then lending a hand to those in need. Go and build your empire and give back to the world that as giving you so much. A positive outlook on life brings you great happiness, stay focus, active, and keep your joy while gaining financial freedom.