I Just Can't Get Enough Money

in #money7 years ago

I’ll bet most of us have always asked the question, why can’t I seem to be able to hold on to money? All of us know someone who probably makes less than we do, has a larger family and yet has a bigger house, a better car, can go on vacations and seems to be living a better life than we are.

I remember when I first started working, the guy I was working with in the same office was making about 10% more, at that time he had been conned by a friend and was having to pay off a debt that guy had left him, he was paying for a house, had his daughter in the most expensive school in town, just this school took about 30% of his salary, and also had a car.

Now I just rented a cheap apartment and all I had to worry about was food and laundry, and other minor essentials like toothpaste, deodorant, toilet paper etc. I didn’t even have a TV as I have never been hooked on it, no internet as it wasn’t yet available, only expense I had was that I drank a lot of beer, but beer was really cheap back them. Yet at the end of the month I was broke and this guy always had money, you know he even tithed. I know you will say the Lord gave him back more because he tithed, I don’t think so, because the same thing happened to a lot of friends who were practically atheists and earned less than I but still managed to have more.

And today I still have that problem, money seems to just trickle out of my hand, I never seem to be able to make it last and I know a lot of people have the same problem. So I checked out the internet to see if there were any cures for this malady but what I found is really just the same advise I have always heard. Namely it includes some of the following:

1)Make a budget and just spend according to this.
2)Don’t use credit cards
3)Don’t spend more than you have
4)Reduce your expenses
5)Find additional income
6)Remember your priorities

And a lot of other ideas. Now I am going to look just at these few I have written and see how they pertain to me.

1)I guess this is a good one for some people, I have tried it and it has never worked for me, I just spend more than what I budget.
2)I had a credit card I had it in the limit every month, until I took out a loan paid it off and never got one again. Hasn’t done me much good, I’m as bad off with or without it.
3)This is related to the budget thing, I usually spend more than I should.
4)This one is difficult, everything is getting more expensive every day so I don’t have to reduce expenses because inflation reduces what I buy for me.
5)That is why I am on Steemit
6)I always remember my priorities, my problem is that money doesn’t seem to be enough for all of them

So I guess the reason why these guys can have nice homes, good cars (I even beat them there I don’t drive a car and I don’t use any sort of transportation, I walk) send their kids to expensive schools, must be that they have some secret sources of income that I am not aware of, there is probably some guild they are members of that permits them to have extra income and I want to know what it is.

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Hi -- great post and great contribution to the Steemit Personal Finance community.

A few points:

  • One approach to a budget is to put the cash for each category in envelopes. It helps with adhering to your category budget if your food envelope has a limited amount of cash in it. It's also liberating -- you can freely spend the money you have budgeted.
  • Try saving a little bit of money right off the top in a way that is a little harder for you to access (maybe even 5% to start). This could be an automatic deduction from pay, or it could be depositing bills in a piggy bank that would be harder to access. This both provides you a little bit of emergency funding and gets you used to living on less than you make.
  • It looks like you're doing a great job of being frugal. Maybe you could pay more attention to tracking your spending?

Cheers,

@dcj