I'm proud of myself. I created a budget today for myself and I've never created a budget, EVER (shame on me). Tell the truth, shame the devil. Lately, I've been overdrawing my bank account like crazy. I wasn't balancing my checkbook and I haven't been using a monthly budget. I was swiping my debit card as if I didn't know my account would eventually reach zero or a negative balance. I was spending, spending, spending. Needless to say, I don't have money to waste. I can't afford to get overdraft fees. My budget is already in the red just by including all necessities with no entertainment. I've decided to be more responsible, more disciplined and stop thinking I need everything I see. Hold me to this, I'm gonna start being more frugal, saving and investing money. I don't need a new outfit every time I attend an event. I have enough clothes, enough shoes and enough purses to really mix & match some things. You're gonna see more pics via TwitPic and/or Facebook with some of the say outfits and I don't care. I'm gonna now start saving, investing more and spending wisely.
I'm blogging about this to tell you all (my readers) how important it is to budget and save money. No, we do not need everything we see in the store nor do we need everything we see someone else with. It's better to be prepared for a rainy day than to have all the Gucci's, Louie's, Louboutins, and things of that sort in your closet. At the end of the day, what's their value? Do they bring you back a high return? If there were an emergency, a year later, can you pull money out of it as you do a mutual fund, stock or a CD? I think not. Let's think smart.
Create a budget for yourself (if you haven't already done so) and keep an accurate balance of your checkbook. We do not want to overspend. I used to work at Bank of America when I was in college and they always told us "Overdrafts are how you receive your paycheck. Don't allow customers to ask you to credit their overdrafts."
Again I say, lets think smart!
Great post Makeva! I have decided to do the same. While other people were making New Year's resolutions I was making lifestyle changes. There are things I want to do that I can't do unless I have the funds to do so. Thus, I dont shop nearly as much as I used to and every now and again I'll treat myself to something nice but even then I put myself on a budget and say "I'm going to treat myself for less than $50." I've learned to bargain shop with the best of them and I rarely pay full price for clothes and shoes because like you said they dont have a return. I have put myself on strict restrictions that I cannot buy something new to go to an event until I have worn everything I already have. I'm in the process of doing research so that I can do a week long series on money management on HUSL Today. I dont know everything but there are people that know less than I do.
ReplyDeleteI'm loveN this girl,...! Each and every blog has me ampD' or has been on things that I can so closely identify with,...! :-) But this one is dead on point. Our Bishop has been lead to go on this 90 day journey with our church focusing in on how to properly handle being married, how to properly raise children, and how to properly handle finances all according to how god intends. And just a couple of weeks ago a bishop had a minister come in to teach bible study from the bahamas Miles Monroe,...And a portion of what he spoke of was on finances,..and the moral of his message was that we needed to ensure that we are becoming wiser at how we manage gods money. He said god is always looking for faithful managers and that he he only gives increase to the one who knows how to properly manage what he has. Thus with that in mind he said that no matter how you pray, or how you fast, or even how you give,...he said before it is all said and done god will look at those things but he too will look at how responsible you've been with a little. If he finds that we are being faithful over a few things then he will bless us with more. We can't handle thousands until we can handle hundreds, we can't handle millions until we can handle thousands,...! So I'm good with tithes and offering,...my only thing is properly handleN and budgeting my money as your mentioned above. I am so use to walking by faith and never haveN what it takes anyhow but still masterminding ways to get what I need or want to where I've never worked on a budget cause basically I never had the money to budget,...things done were always above and beyond what I had,...but now I am praying for god to align me and to give me wisdom on where I stand what is required of me to manage what I have but still walk in faith. I can't wait to hear more of how this is working for you and to get these teaching bishop is walking into,...! Cause lord I am ready for my millions,...it's well past due with all of my seeds sow,...! God I am sure has been just storeN up my blessings just waiting to unload, but I know I must first be found faithful. :-) Blessings ove you Keva!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I've been meaning to leave comments on a few previous post that I wanted to comment on,...I'll be back tracking soon to do so.