It is certainly not a great feeling when you go to pay for something at the supermarket, and your card gets declined. Luckily, there is a way to ensure you never have to go through this ordeal again and that is to get on top of your money situation right now. To find out how, read the advice below.
Get a grip
The first way to get on top of your money situation is to get a grip on your incoming and outgoings. After all, if you don’t know what they are each month, how will you know if you are balancing the books?
Unfortunately, this is just the mistake that so many people make. They just ignore what is actually going into their bank accounts and spend whatever the like, just hoping that their debts will get covered. This rarely ever happens though and instead leaves them with no money for essential towards the end of the month, or even worse in debt to the bank because they have to go over their limit.
To avoid this whole mess, it really is vital that you get a system in place that works for you and your family. It doesn’t matter whether it’s spreadsheet, an app, or if it’s on a bit of paper. You just need to commit to dedicating a little time each month to sitting down and working out what is coming in and what is going out of your account, as this will allow you to make sensible decisions with the money that is left over. Even saving some for emergencies instead of going down to zero each and every month.
Think about the unthinkable
Next, you need to be able to consider the unthinkable and the worst case disaster scenarios. Many folks don’t want to do this because they believe thinking about might be tempting fate somehow, but it is just magical thinking with no basis in reality.
It is so important to consider the worst things that could happen in life because it allows you to put in place a financial plan that will protect you if things do go wrong.
Included in this should be things like life insurance, disability insurance coverage, and a pot of emergency saving for the smaller crisis like when the car breaks down or the heating stops working. Yes, it would be nice to think these things won’t happen, but it sure is better to be financially prepared if they do.
Look after your stuff
Last of all, an important way that you can ensure that you are never short of cash again is to look after the things you already have. Especially the big ticket items like your home and vehicles.
After all, the costs repairing these things can often run into thousands, not an amount that is easy to find in an emergency. That is why, wherever possible prevention is better than repair, it’s certainly cheaper anyway. To do this, you will need to make the time and effort to clean and maintain your home and car, so they last as long as possible and you won’t end up in a situation that leaves you short of cash.
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