Budget One huge way to making more money is by setting a budget for yourself. This is one of the first steps on getting control of your money. Most of us go through life wondering why we are always broke. The simple fact is we just need to adjust our budget. Separate your income in to four areas. Have a place or a bank account for each one. There are bills, debt, savings, and the everything else money. The reason to seperate in to four areas is easy. First, you will always have bills. Second, you may have debt now but, with careful planning you can eliminate it. Third, your savings should be a platform for you to borrow off of yourself instead of a bank. Fourth, you will need food and enjoyment money. Bills are always going to be there. The amount you pay for them will vary. Add up all of you projected bills for the year. Car insurance, utilities, taxes, and anything else you may have. Then divide it by how many times you get paid for the year. Make sure you projection is a little high. This way you will have the funds in that account to cover the cost. Now at the end of the year take whatever is left over and place 75% of it in to your savings account. The other 25% will carry over to the following year. Also try to reduce your bills as much as possible. Try buying lower wattage lights. Don't run the water unless you have to. Simple little things like that will add up and you will be able to make a better projection for the following year. Debt is the main thing you will want to focus on. This is your car payments, house, loans, and credit cards. Take all of your debt payments and add all of them up for the year. Make sure to add at least $1,200 to your total. Then divide it by how many times you get paid. This way you can pay the minimum amount on all of you debts except for one of them. Choose the one that is costing you the most interest. Then add $100 to that payment. This way when you pay it off you can add the minimum amount plus the $100 to the next debt. This will start to pay your debt off fast. If you acquired more debt then you can handle try to apply for a loan that will help consolidate most of them for a lower interest. Just make sure you still apply that extra $100 to the monthly bill. Keep doing this until you are paid off or until you have enough from your savings to pay it off. Make sure you have twice the payoff amount in your savings before you do pay it off. This way you will not completely depleat your savings. Then when you do pay off all of your debt the money you would be putting into this area can now go to your savings. Saving will also act as your vehicle for investing. In the accounts above you divided up your total bills and debt to figure out what to pay on them. This is a little different. Add up all of your income then subtract your Debt and bills from your income. Take that number and keep 10% of it divide by the number of times you get paid for the year. Here is an example. Say you made $52,000 a year. Your projected bills and debt for the year is $30,000. This means you have $22,000 left over. Times $22,000 by .10 on you calculator. Then divide by the number of times you get paid. Round up to the nearest dollar amount. We will use 26 times for the example. You would have to put $85.00 into your account every pay day. After you figured up what the other three acounts will have. Put the rest in to another safe place. Either an account, safe or keep it on you. Whatever you decide. This money will be for your food and entertainment for your hard work. I found this way to be really effective for motivation and to have a solid plan. Check out the Forum
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