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Personal finance is a very touchy and uncomfortable topic for families these days, especially with the rising cost of living and external factors that we have no control over. What we do have control over is our lifestyle habits and our financial future if only we would take time to carefully plan it. Businesses and people alike fail financially because of inadequate planning, the scripture alludes to counting the cost before making decisions to build.
As families when we fail financially it place additional stress on relationships which then adds to deterioration in our emotional and mental state. We have so many insecurities especially when we think of the future, my challenge is to not let finance be one of them.
According to Statistic Canada, there are more than 3.2 million Canadian living below the Canadian official poverty line. Now living below the poverty line is by no means a the dream of anyone, however, life happens sometimes. The hope is that this article will give us the little push we need to start learning more about our money to eliminate some fears that lingers over our financial future.
Everyone has an idea as to how they want to retire and all the nice things in life that they want before we move to our golden years , rightly, there is nothing wrong in desiring what is good.. However as we would have heard over and over ” good things do happen” but not without perseverance and self discipline. The remainder of this blurb is focused on channeling our perseverance and self-discipline in to making us live that life of accomplishment that we so much desire.
Is it impossible ? Hell no! Would it sting a bit ? Just a wee bit , I promise.
The Plan
It is easy , a budget is a financial plan for a fix period of time, whether it is weekly, monthly or yearly. Basically, lining up your income and your expenses and find ways to curtail the variable expenses so that we can have more money in our pockets. Now creating this plan is the easy part, the execution is what many of us find really hard to do.
For any financial plan to be successful there must be a willingness to make lifestyle changes. Once we learn how money works saving ways become very familiar. Here is a format we started using in our family couple years ago. Outside of this we would see extra money and of course we find use for it and before you know it many unhealthy spending habits are birthed and nurtured at the expense of our happily ever after fund.
If you are serious about a brighter future, here is how to start planning your financial future.
- Create a spreadsheet with all your fixed and variable expense
- List all of your variable expenses
- We stick to it… This is the hardest part but you got this.
All you need is a basic spreadsheet, nothing fancy. Below is an example of what your spreadsheet should look like.
| Expenses | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
| Mortgage | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ 1,500.00 |
| Property Tax | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ 300.00 |
| Savings | $ – | $ 400.00 | $ – | $ 400.00 |
| Grocery | $ 200.00 | $ 200.00 | $ 200.00 | $ 200.00 |
| Gas | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 |
| Utilities | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ 450.00 |
| Debt Repayment | $ – | $ – | $ – | $ 120.00 |
| Home Reno/Repairs | $ – | $ 150.00 | $ – | $ 150.00 |
| Vacation Fund | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 | $ 100.00 |
| Entertainment | $ – | $ 150.00 | $ – | $ 150.00 |
| Miscellaneous | $ 150.00 | $ 150.00 |
One of the way to deter unnecessary expenses is to classify it. Think about the item that you are thinking about purchasing and see which expense category it falls under if it does not qualify under any of your expense category from your financial plan for the month then forget about it.
I have a similar plan as the template above, one of the good things about this is that unused amounts are transferred to Savings.
Sticking to a financial plan is a patience game, it takes a lot of commitment, but the result will be you keeping more of your money. Why not make a plan and challenge yourself to save a few hundred dollars next month.
Be sure to click the image to get your FREE Bill checklist, Monthly budget sheet and Saving Planner.
