Black Friday, a time to plan your budget. Today is the big retail day that kicks off the Christmas and Holiday spending season. Big sales, early bird deals and lots of consumer items are being sold in store and online today. After today, a lot of analysts will evaluate how they expect the retail shopping season to go. I haven't heard the expectations yet, but it brought to mind, it's a good time to plan your personal budget for the holiday season and the new year.
For some, this is a bit easier, in terms of having a steady income with a possible bonus. Others, like myself, have variable incomes that change from year to year. Ideally, all of us are building year over year, but this is a very tough economy. So having said that, what's the plan for the upcoming year?
It's never been a better time to evaluate what you are spending where and if that still makes sense. You have the opportunity to re-evaluate what is important to you and what is no longer a priority to spend money on. Obviously, shelter and food are high on the list. What other items can we remove from the list of expenditures to make the new year a bit more sound financially? Do we still need a home phone? Can we have services re-bid to reduce costs, such as utilities, insurance, and any other recurring fees we have?
There are a ton of great resources to check out to re-evaluate. Some that readily come to mind are www.ClarkHoward.com or www.DaveRamsey.com. Clark, for those of you who are not aware of him is a great "cheap" consumer. Dave Ramsey lives and preaches the No Debt philosophy, on TV and through his website.
Another great tip for the new year is to PAY YOURSELF FIRST. By this I mean decide a percentage to take out of your "paycheck" to put in a savings account first before any other spending. Then, you only have the money that is left over for household expenses. While compounded interest is what Einstein considered one of the best marvels, it really is nice to see money you don't even think about get put away and build up. Even if it's a small amount say $10 a week, you'll have $520 at the end of the year, which certainly beats $0.
If you are already in good shape with your annual budget, it's a great time to plan your longer term plans, when you want to buy a new house, take a new job, or go back to school. The world is still going to be uncertain around you, you might as well make decisions and go forward in a direction that works for you and the world might still be uncertain, but at least you'll be moving forward.
There's never been a better time to take charge of your own future!
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