If you are like most families, you count the days until you
get paid again. It really isn’t that
hard to make your paycheck stretch the whole two weeks, you just need to make a
few small adjustments. Even this wedding officiant stretches her weekly paycheck!, and here are some
clever ways to help you hang on to your hard-earned cash a little longer every
month.
1) Bump up your
take-home pay. If it has been a few
years since you began working for your current employer, it may be time for an
update on your W-4 form. You may have
claimed zero so you wouldn’t owe taxes at the end of the year, but with all the
new tax cuts for families, this may
no longer be a wise choice. If you start
claiming more exemptions, you will have less money withheld from your paycheck
and more in your pocket, plus money back come April 15.
2) Put yourself on a
daily budget. On payday spend your money
like you don’t have any. Pay the bills
that are due and buy groceries of course, but with the left over money you need
to budget it carefully, and here is how:
Divide the lump sum by the amount of days left until
payday. That is how much you can spend a
day. If you have $200 dollars left and
you have 12 days until payday, you can spend around $16 dollars a day. If you spend only $10 of that money a day,
you have $72 left come your next payday.
Save that money every month and you have Christmas paid for!
3) Stop the coffee
habit. You knew this one was
coming. Yes it is fashionable to go
through the Starbucks drive thru, but it costs a lot of money to flaunt that
designer coffee cup around. If you
really want to save money, wake up and smell the home-brewed coffee! Add a flavored coffee creamer to your own
coffee and get over it. At $4 a cup
twice a week, you would be saving yourself around $400 a year.
4) Do some repairs
yourself. It used to be that if anything
went wrong with your car or appliances you had no other choice but to call a
repairman. There is a better way to fix
some things and save money: It’s called YouTube. If the blinker light goes out on your car,
look up how to replace the bulb on YouTube.
There is a video out there for almost anything and it would be wise to
check there before you call the handyman.
5) Stop your guilty
conscience spending. If you are one of
those parents who has to spend lots of time away from home working, you may
ease your guilty conscience by purchasing extravagant things for your kids to
make up for it. I know, I am guilty with this aspect on my dog as well!!! Stop spending money and
start spending quality time with your kids and pets.
That may only be a few hours every night, but make those hours count by
making popcorn and watching a movie together or spend time reading or playing
games. This is low-cost time well spent.
OK, I hope these tidbits help out, and this wedding officiant will see you all soon!!!
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