How to Live Rich in 2015
Each and every day we provide you with the tools and deals you need to save on your groceries. The opportunity to saved thousands of dollars is right there at your fingertips. It’s truly amazing how much you can save if you put your mind to it. But, with the start of the New Year, I want you to be able to focus your thoughts on how to better manage your money and truly Live Rich with Coupons. What a waste it would be to do all that work clipping coupons and saving only to spend it foolishly elsewhere. So, now with the New Year upon us, take some time to plan your budget and get yourself and your finances organized.
Planning the Budget
My husband and I spent a good portion of the past week, as we do every year at this time, planning our budget for the next year. Having lived many years without a budget, we now know that we can never do without it. For us, we started setting up a budget during a time of unemployment. It was a scary time and it forced us to focus our attention onto exactly how much we spent. Honestly we were shocked and quite embarrassed at how much we were wasting. We were definitely living above our means and money was being wasted.
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy setting up that first budget. It was a rude awakening and we had to give up quite a bit. No more eating out, no more stops for coffee. Honestly, no more anything. But now, with our detailed budget, we know exactly what we spend and where our money is going and are ready for almost anything that gets thrown our way.
Handling Unexpected Expenses
This past fall we were faced with the task of removing two very tall dead trees. These trees were located right between our house and the neighbors house. The cost to remove them was over $800. Yikes! That unexpected cost would have normally sent me into a panic for such as large amount of money. But, even though I complained at the cost, I was as calm as could be. Why, because we had that money already budgeted. Actually, in our home repair budget, we had just over $1000 so we had enough to cover the removal of the trees and still had a few hundred leftover to stay in the budget. We’ll build on that home repair budget again as we do each month.
Importance of a Budget
Before budgeting the unexpected tree removal would have been a nightmare for me and would have easily resulted in a slow pile up of debt. You see we wouldn’t have had that $800 just sitting around so we would have needed to charge it. What would happen next would be what would really send us into a tailspin. You see, if we didn’t have the money to pay for the tree removal the first month, we didn’t have the money to pay them the second month which means paying small amounts. And then what happens when something else comes up that we need to pay for? Well, the same thing of course. We put it on the charge and pay small amounts. So, you see it becomes a vicious cycle of charges, interest payments and debt. Before you know, you are in so deep, you don’t know how to get out.
Debt Free Living
That was how we used to live our life and it turned us into piles of debt. But, not anymore. After 4 years of a super tight budget, and I mean super tight, (our budget is tight now but not nearly like it was in the beginning) we are now debt free and have been for the last two and a half years. We haven’t had a charge card in almost 7 years and we’ll never have one again. I know there are some of you that have credit cards and are disciplined with them. More power to you, but that was not us. We used them as an emergency and before long, everything seemed to be an “emergency”. Now, without debt, the weight that has been lifted from our shoulders is priceless. There are truly no words to describe the feeling of knowing where every penny goes and being in complete control of your finances. That, to me, is Living Rich!
So, with that said, I thought you might like some inspiration to get yourself on track with your grocery savings and budget planning. I pulled out some old articles I had written that seemed appropriate to start the New Year off on the right foot.
Articles to Help You Live Rich in 2015:
Living Rich Debt Free
See how a reader has made a difference by cutting her groceries and paid off her debt.
How To Set Up a Budget and Stick To It
Setting up a budget is not really on your top 10 100 things to do on a weekend, but it’s very important to plan. And if you spend one weekend doing it, then all your other weekends will be that much better. Check out 6 steps to set up your budget.
5 Easy Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill
Just starting out with coupons? Check out how to get yourself on the right track to Live Rich with Coupons
Why You Should Not Buy Generics
This was one of my favorite articles. It doesn’t have anything to do with setting up budgets or organizing your finances but it’s shows you why coupons rock!
Save $3400 a Year: 9 Easy Ways
Your savings don’t always have to come from the grocery store. Even a cup of coffee, or lack of, can save you a chunk of change for the year.
Free Snowball Debt Reduction Calculator
A great tool to see where you are and where you are going.
And, don’t forget to check out the Beginners Guide to Couponing.