Starting each Month Debt Free and Happy
Start yourself off with a clean slate, start each month with a clean slate.
It's a new day, a new week, a new month. How's your slate looking? Are you carrying a lot of debt over from month to month? 😢After paying your rent do you still have lots of expenses crying for your attention?🙋
Today's post will share a technique I use to start of each month debt-free.
I keep a monthly budget; using zero-based budgeting(Put simply this is you telling your money what to do: Current Month's Income - Current Month's Expenses/Spending = $0). I typically update my spreadsheet weekly (sometimes biweekly...trying to do better) with the recent purchases and payments. This helps keep me on track and lets me know how much I have left to spend in each category. If I see that I've spent 75% of the grocery budget and it's only week 2 of the month, there is a problem and I need to carefully watch my spending in that category for the rest of the month.
So that describes how I set the budget. As far as bill pay, most of my bills are automated; this keeps me from missing due dates and getting charged unnecessary late fees/interest. My goal for the bills that are not automated is to manually pay them off at the end of each month. That means that all credit card charges will be paid in the month incurred. This also means, I do not go swipe crazy (staying within predetermined budget) so my bill isn't some outrageous, unbelievable number. While the bill may not be due until the following month, I have committed to starting each month with a $0 balance so the bill is typically paid in full on the last day of the month.
It has proven to be a nice way to start each month (the payment isn't fun, but seeing $0 balance is😉). Depending on your preferences, debt load, income, and expenses, this may not be the ideal strategy; there may be better options. I encourage you to take a look at how you manage your finances and ask yourself if there is room for improvement. If so, commit to making a change, maybe that means creating a budget, paying more bills in full or paying more towards each bill each month, automating bill pay, or any other way to streamline the process.
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| $0 Balance Due |
It's a new day, a new week, a new month. How's your slate looking? Are you carrying a lot of debt over from month to month? 😢After paying your rent do you still have lots of expenses crying for your attention?🙋
Today's post will share a technique I use to start of each month debt-free.
I keep a monthly budget; using zero-based budgeting(Put simply this is you telling your money what to do: Current Month's Income - Current Month's Expenses/Spending = $0). I typically update my spreadsheet weekly (sometimes biweekly...trying to do better) with the recent purchases and payments. This helps keep me on track and lets me know how much I have left to spend in each category. If I see that I've spent 75% of the grocery budget and it's only week 2 of the month, there is a problem and I need to carefully watch my spending in that category for the rest of the month.
So that describes how I set the budget. As far as bill pay, most of my bills are automated; this keeps me from missing due dates and getting charged unnecessary late fees/interest. My goal for the bills that are not automated is to manually pay them off at the end of each month. That means that all credit card charges will be paid in the month incurred. This also means, I do not go swipe crazy (staying within predetermined budget) so my bill isn't some outrageous, unbelievable number. While the bill may not be due until the following month, I have committed to starting each month with a $0 balance so the bill is typically paid in full on the last day of the month.
It has proven to be a nice way to start each month (the payment isn't fun, but seeing $0 balance is😉). Depending on your preferences, debt load, income, and expenses, this may not be the ideal strategy; there may be better options. I encourage you to take a look at how you manage your finances and ask yourself if there is room for improvement. If so, commit to making a change, maybe that means creating a budget, paying more bills in full or paying more towards each bill each month, automating bill pay, or any other way to streamline the process.
Maybe starting each month with zero debt will give you peace of mind, maybe it will not. Figure out the best way for you to manage your money like a boss and stick to it!