In fact the other day I came across an article which said that for every $1 saved it reduced the need for $25 income! I have been trying to find it again so if anyone comes across it let me know.
Yesterday I spent more time sifting throught the minutia that makes up our financial life. I found out that being too busy to 'read the fine print' doesn't pay off. in the long run. As I sorted and calculated and made myself face facts I was thinking that maybe all that online moneymaking activity was really just another way of maybe not having to deal with things.
I mean it's easy to convince yourself that you are working hard at all hours of the day on the 'Internet Business' for the families benefit. Sure my intentions were good. But I needed to be paying attention to what I already had instead of being too busy to face facts.
Here's what I discovered in The X Files (aka the huge heap of bills dumped in my filing cabinet in no particular order).
I paid over $100 in late payment fees just because I don't pay attention.
I pay an extra $42 a year for my insurance payments to be direct debited .
I pay over $50 a year for my no interest card even if I don't use it.
I paid $832.82 interest on my credit card in the last 8 months.
Nine months ago the home loan interest rate went up to 7.70% and the repayment went up also. I found a letter from the bank that I don't even remember receiving.
OK, so I really need a better filing system! Or just a filing system. So I have set one up. It's all ready to go, just files labelled with all the regular bills. Simple really. Like most things it's not that complicated once you look at it. I think I complicate things as a way of not having to deal with them. Kind of like a lot of busy work, it look good but not much actually gets accomplished.
Thats why I haven't gone out and spent money on more books and systems to 'help' me reach my goal. I know exactly what it is I have to do.
Yesterday I spent more time sifting throught the minutia that makes up our financial life. I found out that being too busy to 'read the fine print' doesn't pay off. in the long run. As I sorted and calculated and made myself face facts I was thinking that maybe all that online moneymaking activity was really just another way of maybe not having to deal with things.
I mean it's easy to convince yourself that you are working hard at all hours of the day on the 'Internet Business' for the families benefit. Sure my intentions were good. But I needed to be paying attention to what I already had instead of being too busy to face facts.
Here's what I discovered in The X Files (aka the huge heap of bills dumped in my filing cabinet in no particular order).
I paid over $100 in late payment fees just because I don't pay attention.
I pay an extra $42 a year for my insurance payments to be direct debited .
I pay over $50 a year for my no interest card even if I don't use it.
I paid $832.82 interest on my credit card in the last 8 months.
Nine months ago the home loan interest rate went up to 7.70% and the repayment went up also. I found a letter from the bank that I don't even remember receiving.
OK, so I really need a better filing system! Or just a filing system. So I have set one up. It's all ready to go, just files labelled with all the regular bills. Simple really. Like most things it's not that complicated once you look at it. I think I complicate things as a way of not having to deal with them. Kind of like a lot of busy work, it look good but not much actually gets accomplished.
Thats why I haven't gone out and spent money on more books and systems to 'help' me reach my goal. I know exactly what it is I have to do.
I have pay back as much money as I can as fast as I can. That's it.
The rest of it is just fluff and decoration.
By not keeping a close eye on my bills and my spending habits I have wasted a lot of money. It pays to check the fine print and find out how much extra you pay for services and what the late fees are. I have now written down when all the regular bills are due and will put it on a calendar or in outlook.
The next step is to reduce them.
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