Dealing With Tough Financial Times

It seems that you can’t read a newspaper or watch the news without being bombarded by dire financial news. True, we are in tough times right now and the media thrives on news that seems hard to handle, but there are real, constructive ways we can deal with lean financial times.

This is an opportune time to sit down and evaluate your home financial situation. Almost two years ago, my husband and I sat down and looked at our home budget. Let me tell you, we didn’t like what we saw. It was an eye opener for sure, but we also came to the conclusion that we had to make some changes. We took a good hard look at how we were spending our money and put major changes in place. Today, we are almost totally debt free and let me say, it feels good.

I have to give a nod for our financial help to Dave Ramsey. His guidance and tools were invaluable. www.daveramsey.com

This is an excellent time to sit down and analyze your personal spending. Are you spending more that you’ve budgeted for. Or an even better question, do you have a budget? If not, take the time to sit down and figure out how much you spend each month, then how much you can afford to spend each month. For me, that was a defining moment. I thought I had all that information in my head, but once I wrote the numbers down on paper, I realized I had a chance to start over.

Let the family get involved as well. We asked our children what they would do to help the family and they came up with lots of great answers. Like, going out to eat less and making dinner together at home. Going to the movie theater to expensive? Have a movie night at home with a rented video and microwave popcorn. And we car pool together more often, which lets us spend more quality time together as a family.

My husband and I take a walk almost every night after dinner. It’s better than going to the Mall where temptation looms at every turn. (Note: try not to go to the Mall unless absolutely necessary.) Try getting out to a park or a walk on the beach. Saving money has become a mission for us and we’re having fun along the way.

We’ve also started an emergency fund. From the advice of more than one market analyst, the recommended amount for an emergency fund is one thousand dollars. This way, if you have something happen to your car or maybe a large appliance needed to be replaced, this fund allows you to pay cash instead of relying on credit card use.

And speaking of credit cards? Try to get rid of them. I know we’ve been told that we need a credit rating especially if we want to buy a house. But with the money you would save by not buying with credit and having to pay the subsequent percent rates and monthly payment on credit cars, you can save up to put a good down payment on a house. We’ve been bombarded for years with credit card applications. Now is the time to say no way. Now is the time to get out of debt. Cash is king.

Sometimes the thought of changing our ways of spending can be daunting. Baby steps. Start with changes that are manageable. As you begin to pay bills off, you’ll be excited at the prospect of doing more. My husband and I didn’t go out to eat for a good six months as we were paying off debt. We didn’t miss it, especially as we saw our debt numbers go down and the amount of cash in our pockets go up.

Changing our habits can be hard, but it can happen. Look at tough times as a challenge. If you begin to implement changes now, just think how far ahead you’ll be when the financial climate gets better. Have a positive attitude. Believe me, you can do this. And you’ll be pleasantly pleased with the outcome.

Diva Tara