Saving is a must

Recently, I was listening to talk radio and there was a segment related to predictions for 2009. Unfortunately the predictions were very grim...actually worse than 2008 I'm afraid. It has been predicted that in the year 2009, the U.S economy will collaspe. When I heard this prediction, I became very worried because I couldn't imagine things getting worse than they already are. I never thought I would be seeing the possible collaspe of the "big 3" auto-makers possibly coming to fruition. Who would have ever thought that big banks would collaspe as well, not to mention all the stores closing their doors this month. With all of these things happening, I couldn't help but take a step back and evaluate some things. I thought about how Americans, for the longest, have been big spenders, always spending money...never saving money. We live in a microwave society so people want things now...instantly. Well now all this greed has gotten us in way over our heads. We have always had everything we've wanted. We always had to have the best car, the biggest house the best clothes....i.e., we have taken a lot of things for granted in the past and maybe a economical collaspe is just what we need to give us a wake up call. "America, it's time to wake up and start putting some money aside for a rainy day!!!!"

Now I know that there are some people out there probably saying to themselves, "I live paycheck to paycheck, I never have money left at the end of the month....how in the world can I save money?" the first thing you need to do is set up a BUDGET....yes, I said the "B" word. A budget tells your money where to go instead of you wondering where it went. Creating a budget gives you a detail view of your cashflow....what is coming in and what is going out. This is very important for you to master. It will take some time at first but eventually you will get into the habit of doing a budget and it will make your life a lot easier. If you need help with starting a budget, you can go to www.daveramsey.com and you should be able to find several types of budget templates that will suit your needs. Keep in mind a true budget has a net balance of zero, meaning that you gave every dollar a name or a place to go. You should never have any money left....if so, you have not found a home for the dollars to go and those dollars will eventually end up somewhere because money has a mind of its own...believe me, it does.

The second thing you need to do, once the budget is set up, is to start keeping a log of your expenses. I know that this is very tedious and I am not saying that you need to do this forever but at least do it for the next 3 months. This will allow you to see where your money is going and expose those areas where you could cut back such as eating out, entertainment...etc. The money you could save from eating out and entertainment alone is a great start to saving money. I highly recommend that you do this and see where you can cut back on some items that you spend money on friviously. You don't have to have that gourmet coffee from Starbucks every morning...try the coffee at the office or purchase the Starbucks coffee from the grocery store and brew it at home instead of spending $3.99+ a day for a cup of coffee that will wear off in an hour. If you save $3.99 a day for an entire year (365 days), you would have $1,456.35 at the end of the year, which in turn could pay for Christmas gifts instead of you having to charge them.

If you just follow the two steps above, you will be well on your way to saving money. It is a step by step process. There is no magic pill to buidling wealth. You build wealth slow and steady. You have got to start by being disciplined. Stay tuned for more helping tips on saving. If you like my blog, send me a comment.