Develop a budget
Make simple, logical changes
Once you have a picture of where your money is going, it’s usually clear to see where changes can be made. You’ll find that you don’t have to make big changes that sap the enjoyment out of life. Simple, logical changes in your spending habits can have a meaningful impact on your lifestyle. Small sacrifices can add up to significant savings.
Perhaps you’ll decide to discontinue the cable TV service, or at least get rid of ESPN 7 (which you never watched anyway). Maybe you’ll bring your lunch to work more often and dine out one less time per month. You may cancel subscriptions to the magazines that are piling up, unread, on the coffee table.
These are small changes, but they could add up to meaningful savings over the course of a month or a year. This first budget may be the most challenging; but after your first year as a homeowner, you’ll have receipts and records that will help make the job easier — and even more valuable — as time goes on.
A good budget…
- need not be complicated
- should not be rigid
- is flexible
- requires little time, and most important
- works for you, not against you
