Skip to main content

Decisions, Decisions


Last week I assigned you a task: “list all your debts in the order of that preferred method on the first page of your notebook along with their balances and monthly payments.” Hopefully, your debts did not fill up the entire notebook, because you also need to account for your living expenses.

You: “So, what things are considered living expenses?”

Me: Thanks for asking. Living expenses are items that you will continue to pay for even if you don’t owe anybody a thing. If you work for someone besides yourself and receive a paycheck, some of these expenses are automatically taken from your paycheck. There are probably more living expenses than most people realize, so here are some hints: Rent, Charities, Savings—Emergency, Retirement, College Funds; Taxes—Income, Real Estate, Auto; Alimony/Child Support (which should technically go away sometime, but it’s not really debt, so we’ll list it here); Child Care; Home Repairs and Association Dues; Medical—Deductibles, Co-Pays, Medications; Utilities—Gas, Electricity, Water, Trash, Phone, etc.; Insurance—Auto, Home, Renters, Life, Health, ID Theft, Disability or Long Term Card (two of which we will cover in another blog post in the near future); Cell Phone, Internet, and/or Cable; Grocery and Non-grocery Items; Eating Out; Clothing; Gifts/Christmas; Mad Money and Vacations; Pet Supplies; Music Lessons and Sports Activities; Transportation—Gas, Oil, Car Repair, Tires,  Car Replacement.

Here is your task for this week: list all your living expenses on the second page of your notebook along with their average monthly payments. If you are not sure of an average, look at what you spent on them in 2019. For instance, total all the money you paid to the electric company and divide it by 12–that is a good average of what you gave them every month last year. Do that for each living expense if you need to. And, if you want to put them in any special order, do it according to importance (just so you know, rent, insurance, and electricity should come before cable, eating out, and vacations). For some people, deciding the order of importance is going to be gut-wrenching.

So, get on with this week’s task. I wish I could say the pain will end soon, but I’m afraid we’re going to drag it out a few more weeks. Get your antacids ready.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One More–Christmas Experiences Part II

Christmas is just a week away. Hopefully you’ve checked everything off your to-do list and can spend some quality time “experiencing” Christmas gifts with your family. Because, after all, your loved ones will be far more touched by how you made them feel than they will be with what you gave them. This week, I want to share with you my sister, Carey’s, family Christmas experience. “One Christmas, when my boys, now 18, 23 and 28, were little, we gave them an experience that is still talked about now. And it’s something so easily replicated that any family can do it, and it’s not too late to do it for Christmas (even ON Christmas) this year. We drove around our neighborhood and looked at all the homes decorated for the holiday. We took note of the addresses as we numbered them. We talked about what made each ornamented yards stand out. And at the end of the night, we voted for our favorite. I had my sons help me make some of our favorite holiday desserts and, in addition to taking p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Books Equal Bucks

 In November PBS always hosts their  Annual Reading Marathon . “Wow. That’s the  second  time this month that our financial blogger has gone off the rails regarding blog topics. What does reading have to do with finances?” My answer? Everything. Establishing good reading habits in children–reading 20 minutes a day–can literally change their financial future. Good readers do better in school. Good readers are more likely to graduate from high school. Good readers will probably make more money as adults. Reading changes EVERYTHING          . That being said, books  can  be expensive, but they don’t have to be. Libraries are some of the best resources for book access–they play SUCH an important role in our community. You can also share/trade books with your neighbors, friends, and family members (just make sure you have a good system for tracking book ownership). Second-hand stores or garage sales are awesome places to s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bon Voyage

Many of you are aware that I like to travel. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a few foreign countries and taking a handful of cruises, and I intend to do more in the not-to-distant future. Because you know me, you know I don’t finance these trips–I plan ahead and save for them. And if you’ve followed my blog for a while, you are also aware that I do use one credit card for which I earn flight miles, and I use this card on the trips where I see the world. There is one thing about my credit card for which I am especially grateful–whenever there is suspicious activity on my account, I get a text notification. The credit card company recognizes that charges abroad MIGHT NOT BE LEGIT, and they send me a message. All I have to do is confirm that it is, in fact, me that made the peculiar purchase, and I’m good to go. If I did not make the purchase, I respond in kind, and my card is deactivated. Note to self and others: one could avoid these potential interruptions if one calls credit car...
Post a Comment
Read more