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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Low on Funds: How to Budget on Just a Little Money

By Jesse Mecham

My mother-in-law and I were discussing budgeting a while back and she made the comment that she has never budgeted because she knows there isn't enough money. Her comment basically implied that there was no point to budgeting.

This type of thinking is, unfortunately, all to common. Why SHOULD you bother budgeting if there isn't enough money? I'll answer that question now.

Despite the fact that the bills are sky-high and your available funds are low -- when you'll take the time to consciously look at those available funds and make the decision BEFOREHAND about what your money should be doing. Do NOT throw in the towel on this! Take a hard look at your money and give it focus: clothes, food, electricity, miscellaneous, etc. This exercise is vitally important.

Given the situation that there's not enough money, you'll likely run out of money before you run out of bills. The whole process will still produce great results though! Prioritizing your money means you're maximizing what it can do for you at any given moment. That's important in figuring out how to budget.

The second step is to be certain you're recording every single penny that you spend. Realize that even if you're spending and driving a deficit, the task of recording your spending MANUALLY will mitigate the deficit-spending as much as possible. Your total deficit will be much lower as a result and you'll be in a better position than had you not done it at all.

Manually recording what you spend helps reinforce awareness, and reconnects you psychologically back to your money. In this day and age, marketers, banks, and card processors want us to spend and spend without regard for our personal financial situation. This is no way to budget or manage your money! The exercise of recording your spending will make you (painfully) aware of where you should cut back.

In the end, planning ahead and recording the ongoing will help you budget effectively. Even if you're operating at a deficit, your losses will be mitigated through the use of these two budgeting tactics.

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