Your personal finances may be out of control. Depending on your spending habits and income, you may think that your spending habits are way over what you should be spending. This is when you will need some serious restrictions to get you on the right track. When it comes to personal management, you need to be able to control all your needs and wants. If you do not absolutely need something, then it is a want. It can be nice to splurge a little on yourself every now and then, but when you are constantly throwing money around for your personal wants, then that is when you start to overspend.

Personal finances need attention

To manage your finances you may want to ask someone you know that is in good-standing credit, to help you adjust your spending. First, you will need to make a budget. To make a budget you need to make a list of everything that you need to pay during the month. If it is personal finances, you will want to make a monthly budget. A monthly budget allows you to be flexible and yet inflexible. Once you have your list of objects that you need to pay for, start to categorize the topics. This will help you manage your list better. Now determine what total budget you have and begin to distribute percentages of the total amount to your categories. Categories like entertainment should be very low compared to savings and bills.

Once you have a budget for your personal finances, you can then make a plan to stick with the budget. You can do this by learning how to manage your budget. You may want to take a management class or look up tips on how to manage your money or finances. You can also ask someone to help you, for a while, to manage your finances. This could be anyone that you trust and someone who has good credit. By seeking advice or help, you are able to get experience and guidance to making the right choices. This will prepare you better when you are all on your own to manage your finances.

Those of you that have kids know what an excursion to the local mall or supermarket can be like. If you’re not careful, this simple trip can easily become a wallet draining experience.

How often have you heard:

“I want Luchables because EVERYONE eats them at lunch!”
“Come on mom, these cool pants only cost $80.”
“Dad, everyone has a Playstation II, I need one too!”
“I need 2 sodas and 2 bags of chips everyday!”

Certainly, we as parents want to make our kids happy and not deprive them of a delightful childhood, but who’s to say that you must give in to every one of your child’s requests.

Why must you work twenty overtime hours just so your son can have a new video gaming system? Why must your grocery bill be over $200 just so your kids can have the latest cereal, ice-cream, snacks, candies, and sodas available?

Truth About “Brand-Names”

Brand-names cost money. Quite a bit of money. Especially when you add them up over time. The reasons these brands must charge more money is to cover their enormous advertising and marketing costs.

Since kids are constantly bombarded with advertisements on the television and amongst their peers at school, they are most likely going to ask you for these same products.

No one really enjoys telling their kids they can’t have something they want, however looking at the bigger picture, what lesson are we teaching our kids if we simply give in to their every request?

For one, they are not learning the value of money and the role it plays in our lives. Secondly, they are not learning about the importance of conservation and how to properly budget their money.

Learning to budget and save money at an early age will really come in handy especially as they grow older, start driving, and get offered tempting pre-approved credit cards through the mail.

If they are not careful and able to budget their money effectively, this new found freedom may drain all the money from their pockets.

Teaching The Importance of Conservation

Not only is this the perfect opportunity to get your kids “brand-free” and away from the expensive, trendy stuff, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to teach them the value of money.

Here’s one way you can approach this.

Explain to your kids that the money you spend on clothes, food, toys, etc, depletes the amount you are able to save for future needs.

Explain that starting today, only the NECESSITIES will be purchased. No more ice cream, chips, soda, candy, lunchables,
except maybe on special occasions. Toys and games will need to be earned and will no longer be given away for free. Etc…

For example, you could state that you will only be purchasing Cheerios (or another low priced cereal). If your kids want to have Captain Crunch or Cookie Crisp, they will have to buy them using their own money.

Same principal for their lunches. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna fish, apples, oranges, carrots, and raisons. If they want Lunchables or some other type of non-nutritious fast food, they will have to buy it with their own money.

Soon, you will have your child(ren) deciding “Is a Quarter Pounder Meal worth $4.50 out of my savings?” or “Do I really need that new video game that cost $50?”

This “brand-free” approach can be applied to all other shopping areas aside from the supermarket example.

When you are shopping for clothes, ONLY buy the necessities. Ignore the most expensive and most popular items. Only buy what you, or the kids, absolutely need, ignore all the rest.

Regarding toys and games, you can make it so that your kids ONLY get “free” toys on Christmas and their birthdays. If they want something additionally, they must purchase the item with their own money.

Taking These Ideas One Step Further

Once you have inspired your kids to participate in this money saving, “brand-free” lifestyle, it’s time to MOTIVATE them to help increase their success.

As with everything in life, having a goal to strive for greatly increases the probability of success.

Goals help us stay focused on the task at hand. Goals help the individual strive for something tangible that’s meaningful or important to them.

A runner’s goal may be to shave 10 seconds off their lap time. This runner will then practice, workout, and time themselves, striving to run a lap 10 seconds faster than before.

In our “brand-free” exercise, you may want to come up with a goal that you and your kids can strive towards. For example, you could establish a short term goal that states, if your kids can eat healthy and not ask for
any “brand-name stuff” for two months, you will buy them a toy in the $10-$20 range.

Here are some more ideas for the various goal ranges:

Short Term: 1-3 months small toy or game, picnic, trip to beach, movie of their choice

Medium Range: 3-6 months new video game, doll house, Chuck-E-Cheese trip

Long Term: 6-12 months Disneyland trip, Playstation II, Water Theme park

Sticking To Your Plan

Regardless what your decide to implement, remember that this is your plan. You are the parent so you will decide what’s best for your kids. Don’t take any negative remarks or any bad mouthing and “stick to your guns”.

Just keep in mind that these exercises and lessons will benefit your kids in the long run regardless of what they may think of it at the moment.

If you would like some additional money saving tips to give you more ideas of where to start saving, check out our “Monthly Money Saving Articles”:

http://www.SavingSecrets.com/tips.html

Best wishes teaching your kids to be “brand-free” and money conscious.

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