How many have included home financial goals in their New
Year’s Resolution for 2016? If you are like most, it’s more about healthy
living, exercising, and increasing quality of life resolutions than money
issues. Consider new goals and achievable plans for your New Year’s resolutions
with your home finances. Money deserves our attention because it is the tool that
affects every aspect of our life. So be sure to reminisce your money mistakes and
anticipate the positive changes you can make in the New Year to help your home
financial situation.
I have enjoyed taking a holiday break from my blog but as
the New Year reminds ticks closer, I am reminded to get back at it. My school
studies and responsibilities to share quality information improves focus that
helps me achieve my goals and allows an opportunity to share what I learn along
the way.
So let’s ring in the New Year of financial income gain with
these tips. Some I have personally used and others I will implement myself in
2016. Hope you find this information useful, practical, and applicable to help
increase your home financial income too.
Consider saving your income tax refund to compensate your
monthly income through the year. For instance, most do file taxes. Many get
back income refunds and spend it so fast, they have no idea where it goes.
Example: $1200 refund money. Put $1200 in a checking
account. Withdraw $100 a month to add to your regular income. If we were not
paying taxes, we’d have this income in our NET income. This would make it
easier if we didn’t have to wait all year to get it. But if you get income tax
refund, save it to use through the year. This could be used for entertainment,
clothing, groceries, or emergencies.
I know many anticipate their income tax refund to spend it
without planning. However, by planning to use income tax refunds wisely, there
will be less chance for wasting it. This can greatly add supplement income
through the year. By saving the income tax refund to use through the year, it
will help balance the feast and famine that most working class Americans
struggle with through the year. In the summer months, utilities costs go down.
They increase in winter. In having a small nest egg, as income tax refund, this
can go a long way to having extra funds monthly through the year.
Consider saving $10-20 a month or a larger amount if you can
afford. It make sound like a large sum of money for those who do not have
excess funds. However, we all have excess funds if we regulate, monitor, and
focus control on our “controllable” bills. Electricity, cell phone, landline, satellite/cable
and utility costs are controllable bills that require monitoring of use to
maximize savings.
Do you need those 250 television channels now as you once
did? Do you need unlimited global call or text plans as you once did? Do you
really need to have all those extra lights on your home of room unoccupied? What about water use? Do you turn on the water
wide open or do you decrease the water stream for only what you need? There are
ways to decrease expenses. But it takes awareness, want too and dedication.
Electric companies try to teach us to unplug items we do not
use frequently. Leaving items plugged in that are not used regularly does
contribute to the light bill. However, many things of controlling and
monitoring use of bills as this does require dedication of wanting to lower
expenses. The lower the expenses are; the more increase of profits one can
achieve.
In business, same period last year or same period last month
or time slots are given for exact amounts of previous operation expenses. These
totals are usually figured into this year’s data of operational expenses to
customize a budget projection of what costs will increase and how much revenue
or gain maybe lost, due to rising costs of operation.
A home budget is no different. Most bills have cycle dates of
use on it. Utility and phone bills will usually have a same period last month
or last year on it. Weather, temperature, medical issues, unforeseen
emergencies, and life circumstances can produce more expenses this year than
last year. However, in monitoring what was used to back then to how services
are being used in your home now will help you learn where and how you can
decrease operational expenses. If you would do this for your employer, why not
implement this into your home budget? It is never enough to just pay a bill.
Home bills should be monitored and regulated in responsible use as your
employer expects from you. It’s good financial sense. It is easier than you
think once you implement positive financial changes in your home. The rewards
of trying are worth it.
Now let’s look at credit ratings as a financial New Year’s
resolutions. Many have credit issues or do not even know what their credit
score is. Credit is the system of commerce in our great democracy of America.
It is not a fair and equal system. This system does not start everyone out on
the same scoring number. Credit score numbers reflect how well your ability is
to problem solve, manage your personal finances, and to make wise money
decisions to obtain, receive, and maintain credit. This score is similar
scoring system to a report card you received in college or high school. The
more you apply yourself to achieve higher grades and do the academic work
required, the higher your grade. The more you learn of how to help your unique
credit score, the more you can change to apply and use it to your benefit. By
fighting and being bitter or resentful to credit score system does nothing
productive. So try new ways to approach old problems. With learning and
patience, you can achieve the credit score you want in the ways you can afford.
Homes, vehicles, personal loans, and many mostly require
credit to make large or personal purchases. This requires skills to build
knowledge of how to use the system to benefit you. It’s not a choice of chance.
Credit scores require making a committed choice to learn.
Creating a personal plan to work for your finances. There are many ways you can
play the system to make it work for your situation. No matter how horrible your
credit score is or if you have no credit; you can rebuild. But you must be
willing to learn, make a plan, and achieve these goals to succeed increasing
your credit scores.
For instance, most usually buy gasoline, groceries, and
household cleaning supplies and necessities monthly. Most do have a checking
account. Regardless of what your credit score is, you can be on your way to
achieving a better credit score. How?
Apply for a credit card. Even if you must apply for a
secured credit card, it’s worth it to invest money to build/rebuild your credit
score. If you do as you should to responsibly manage credit, the secured credit
card will go to unsecured and you will get your deposit back increasing your
limit and opening you to new lower APR opportunities and larger credit lines.
The items you purchase regularly such as gasoline, groceries,
and household cleaning supplies can be budgeted and used only for this credit
card. If the balance of total credit on the credit card is: $150. You will not
want to exceed 20% of the $150 balance. You
would spend no more than $30 on a month on this credit card. You’d pay the
balance off each month before the due date. This immediately increases your
credit score. It’s a new account. It would be a responsible account staying
below 20% of the total account balance. It’s
a financial step in the right direction. Credit scores are like a ladder that
you can never give up on trying to climb and master. Credit score numbers are
more important than your GPA or report cards of school. It can make or break
your financial opportunities and your quality of life.
It will take time to build your score where you want it to
be. It didn’t get broke overnight. It will take time to fix it. But if you used
a few accounts to do this, you’ll build your credit up in no time using funds
you already have. You will be using your budgeted monthly amounts differently
to rebuild or establish credit. There would be no interest charges because your
balance should be paid off every month.
It may appear aggravating to open a credit card to pay that
bill instead of using debit or cash for your monthly expenses. But it depends
on how serious you want to be in rebuilding or stabling credit. This system
works. You can only try it to believe it. Most secured and non-secured cards
offer free credit tracking report cards so you can monitor you progress and see
areas where you can improve on. It’s an investment.
Some credit cards will charge small monthly fees or annual
credit fees. View the fees as a small investment to pay for a larger goal to be
achieved. You can do more on your own of learning and applying than paying some
else to do what you can do on your own.
We pay into a 401K waiting until retirement to cash out.
What’s the difference? Checking accounts can charge fees if the balance falls
below their margin too. So we spend more toward financial investments than we
realize. Why not invest in rebuilding or establishing credit too?
Looking for new ways to spend money differently can improve
and achieve larger goals with greater returns of profits. The word, investment;
is the only way to view money to properly budget, allocate, and spend money
wisely and responsibly.
There are many more financial tips I will share in my blog as
the New Year progresses.
Finances are a stressful situation in all occupations. In
the retail industry, you are dealing with everyone’s money to create
responsible, mature, and honest integrity. In the medical industry; this is
done through medical coding and billing. In filing our taxes, we are helping
our America to financially function and operate. Granted, politics can ruin money
in their methods of how they spend our money. But the truth is, do not worry about
the money of others. Do the job you have with all money and be responsible with
money at work and at home. If your finances are not balancing responsibly at
work and at home, it’s time to analyze and find out why. The problem of money will
not go away with negligence. It will only decrease. The only way to grow money
opportunities is to be aware to them, learn about them, and apply new and
healthier ways of financial control and wise spending habits.
There is always room for financial improvement in business and
even more in personal finances. Many can operate a profitable company while
their personal credit rating is down the toilet. Why is that? Home finances do
require a system of checks and balance and knowledge; as much as, our
occupations ever do.
Money can only work for you as a tool in personal finance as
you are willing to learn the many roles it can take on to grow and work for
you.
Let’s use more patience, less impulse, and work to create
financial plans to achieve our financial goals in 2016. If individuals in this
country can retire on minimal funds and live comfortably in a quality life of
limited budgets than you better believe the rest of us can. No more money
excuses in 2016. Let’s turn America finances around by beginning in our homes.
Happy New Year!
