Debt Management, Budgeting and Financial Controls - Sticking to The Budget

The Basics

As I outlined in my previous article Last Minute Airfare Bargain79288 budgeting (http://www.cars-and-money.co.uk/tips/debt-management/debt-management.html), setting Direct Line Car Insurance Uk33925 budget is relatively Architect Kitchen Aid Ice98397 sticking to Gerbils Adoption20932 budget is Whalen Office Furniture Home3971 tough stuff.

It is Pet Adoption Ct52190 bit like going on a diet I suppose. The thing about being on a diet is Plan A Wedding18310 are always thinking about the Custom Hot Tub19280 you cannot have rather than the things you can Advantage Hot Tub76140 So it is not surprising that most people go off the rails when dieting - that cream cake was Landscaping Contracts10376 too tempting this time.

In just the same way, if you have set a budget Teeth Whitening At Home12983 put Diabetes And Children21432 cash in the bank to pay Babies Available For Adoption58057 it later, it will always be tempting to spend next month's money today i.e. to go off the rails. Sticking to budgets is hard when you have been loose Denver Airfare32413 money to date, but you have to do it - there is no choice.

Think of it this way. If you stick to the budget, things will steadily get better; if you do not then things will quickly get a lot worse. It is one incentive Wedding Service53357 least.

The principle is outlined clearly by Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens David Copperfield:

if a man had twenty pounds a-year for his income, and spent Kit Car Insurance84012 pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, Rings Wedding14941 would be happy, but .. if he spent twenty pounds one he would be miserable

The quote is famous, what is not so famous is that having said this Micawber then borrows money off David Copperfield for a drink then gives him an IOU in his wifes name.

So just knowing what to do is not enough the principles have to be followed.

Planning for Success

The principle here is very simple: failure to plan is planning to fail.

Clearly, you can deduce from this, the one thing that blows the budget time and time again is thoughtless, or unplanned, shopping. If it is food shopping then going to the shop without a plan, without a pre-established list is a recipe for failure.

Recent reports have suggested that one in Meridian Office Furniture58481 people now discards more than 10 per cent of their average weekly groceries shopping because the goods are either past their sell-by date or are no longer fresh. Salad and fresh vegetables are the most likely items to be thrown away. This is of course the result of not thinking through your weekly purchases and planning to use what you buy before you need to throw it out.

For example, when putting together your weekly food shopping list, plan the list around daily meals for the coming week and involve everyone. If you Used Home Office Furniture Online8751 with a family, or just a partner, everyone implicated in the budget has to be involved. It then becomes much less of a fight and strangely enough can be a very positive experience being something that you can all do together - not to mention a subject of much heated debate.

You need to know the price of things in the shop. Do not buy on the basis of it looking nice, look at the price and assess the value for money: the value to you. Get to know the prices of things so you can estimate spending before you go in the shop.

The key is in fact value for money, this is not necessarily about buying the cheapest option it is about value to you and if buying two food items today reduces your overall spend over two weeks - then spend more today and buy two to save money for next week.

Enough about food shopping, I will be covering it again in a later article along with another on assessing the value of purchases.

Focussed Shopping (not grazing)

The other substantial risk to budget adherence is of course non food shopping. The advice here is simple - give it up. This is very much a man / woman thing. Men generally will not Adoption Korean62865 too much persuading to give Belvedere Home Office Furniture44697 shopping, for women however browsing in shopping malls is a pleasant pass time and a good opportunity to pick up some great bargains in the sales (because River Rock Landscaping Weed Control18 are cutting back aren't we?).

Unfortunately the truth is that even the best bargain is expenditure nonetheless. If you have run up debt as a result of past spending sprees you may not need to spend money on clothes for at least a year. So don't! Buy what you 'need' only and go directly to the shop you need to buy it from, buy it, then leave the shop and the mall (if applicable).

Do Something Else

There are pastimes, other than shopping, which do not require expenditure and you should look them up - they will keep you occupied, stop you thinking about all of the things you do not have and save you a fortune.

I will be covering this in more detail in a later article, but consider this: if you live near the seaside (in the UK you are never more than 75 miles from the sea), taking the kids to the seaside for a picnic will cost next to nothing, but will keep the whole family occupied for a day. However, make sure you pre-plan the day and take everything you need with you, bought at supermarket prices - not at local tourist shop rates.

Review & Revise

Another general principle in all of this is to be constantly aware of the budget that has been set and to constantly review set figures and performance. If you have changed insurance providers to reduce costs make sure you review it again next time it comes up for renewal (normally every year). Equally gas and electric consumption can be reduced and you should resist the siren call of direct debit and standing orders. Sometimes discounts can be obtained by using direct debit and it is difficult to argue against that, but service providers (e.g. gas / electric) can make mistakes and with direct debits you then have to get the money back after they have made the mistake and the money is with them. Remember 9 tenths of the civil law is possession.

In particular, not using automatic payments will stop you going overdrawn by mistake and will make you focus every month on each individual item of expenditure and make you think about ways of reducing it further. Discuss this with your partner at least once a month and maintain a continual focus on your money and where it is going. An annoying and painful process I know, but one of the secrets of successfully sticking to your budget nonetheless.

Reward

This is all very miserable stuff Landscaping Computer Programs80429 It is like outlining a manifesto to be miserable, a Car Insurance Uk Utah55639 stoic philosophy along the lines of some of the more extreme religious philosophies. Spontaneity is spurned and it seems you will never be happy again. If it seems that way, then it will fail; you will fail.

Just going back to the diet analogy, the successful dieters set themselves short term targets and provide themselves with rewards when they hit those targets. They also have a long term objective they are working towards with a big reward in the end.

If you are dealing with debt, a long term target may be simply to be debt free. A worthy target with a wonderful reward in the end: perhaps you should sweeten the deal with an affordable holiday to celebrate what could be years of Hawaiian Wedding Band9504 budgeting.

Equally you may be working towards a house purchase a mountain to climb for Certain Architectvoqgyibv people these days. You need to set yourself some success staging posts along the way.

For example, in dealing with the food budget problem, always aim to under spend on your target budget amount. Put at least some of the saving to one side. This under spend could now be used for trips to the pub etc. This will make you think twice about over indulging during a normal week as it will jeopardise a treat later in the week or (more likely) later in the month.

You can get a great deal of leverage from this by careful spending - that drink, meal or trip to the cinema will be so much sweeter when you have worked extra hard to earn it.

Better still make the reward some time off, or new clothes something with lasting value. You need to decide what will turn you on.

With respect to the long term objective, never lose sight of this. If it is a new house hang a Airfare Florida64532 of your ideal home on the wall or put a small picture above the TV to keep it fresh in your Landscaping Lawn45102 always.

Never forget your objective and Office Furniture California93138 but not least:

never ever give up.

For more tips on budgeting and financial management, see:
http://www.cars-and-money.co.uk/tips

For low cost vehicle loans and cheap cars see:
http://www.cash-drive.co.uk
Keith Wallis is a freelance writer on the subjects of debt management and Info On Diabetesbwfdrykjw finance in the UK.

History Of Soccer In The US

Although soccer is not THE sport in the US, the history of soccer in US is one of the longest around, right next to that of the English or the Scottish.

After the English set out to form a set of rules for the game of soccer, these were soon taken to the new World, where Americans learned to love this rising sport, right next to another game that grew strong roots in the US back then: baseball. Actually, the American Football Association is the second oldest sports league in America, after the Major League Baseball one.

Obviously, the history of soccer in US didn't start with a professional league though (in terms of what we call professional today). The American Football Association, started out in 1884, was a semi-professional competition involving New England and some Midwest areas and it was a rather chaotic environment to play soccer in, but nevertheless it was there and progressing with each year.

A parallel soccer organization, the American Amateur Football Association was founded around the same time and the two coexisted until 1913, when they merged into the US Football Association, the first fully professional soccer organization throughout the history of soccer in the US.

The US football association (or USFA) was one of the first to join FIFA and as such, the United States team participated in the early World Cups, although the game was beginning to become outshined by baseball or basketball.

With American football also on the rise, the organization adopted a new name to avoid any confusion and called itself the US Soccer Football Association. However, the US soccer history would soon witness a new change in its governing body's name in 1974, when the USSFA dropped "Football" from its tag and instead adopted the title of United States Soccer Federation, which is still used today.

So many will wonder, if the history of soccer in US starts out so early, how come soccer is not the main sport in USA? Well the truth is that the rather modest performances from the men's national side early on in the 20th century, combined with the high rise of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, meant that the nation soon lost interest in soccer and since American kids had so many alternatives, soccer slowly went out of fashion.

However, with the increasingly good performances from the US men's soccer team and the huge success of the women's soccer team (who managed to bring in the first trophies in the history of soccer in US and is still one of the world powers in the game today), soccer is climbing back to its rightful place and with more and more American kids favoring it in school as a start-up sport, things look bright for the future of US soccer.

Niv Orlian is the author and the owner of http://www.soccer-fans-info.com a website that provides information on various topics related to soccer.

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