Discipline works
I admire one of my staff in the office. She likes to buy a brand new Blackberry. Mind you, she has a Nokia touch screen cellphone now. Her dream is to replace it with a Blackberry, latest model. Today she told me she has decided that she will buy the Blackberry in CASH by saving for it. She can get the Blackberry now by just one swipe of her credit card. But she is wise and will stick with her plan to save first and buy later. Isn't that discipline?
Keeping Track of your money
Another way to enforce discipline in your finances is by keeping track of how you spend your money on a daily basis. This is hard work mind you. I did this for a month with the help of my wife. Everyday, I list down our expenses on a small notebook that I always carry with me. Every centavo that I spent was recorded. The simple exercise is enough to make me reconsider any expense I make. It made me think twice before I decide to buy anything. Remember, it is a matter of discipline-delayed gratification.
This exercise gave me an idea and I saw a pattern of where my money went. It gave me control over my expenses. One example was my phone bill. I found out that my cellphone bill way too high from my budget. You know what I did? I saved money by cutting my non-essential calls. It worked for me.
The tracking report also gave me valuable information, which I used to prepare my monthly budget.
Why not try it? I promise you, it will be an eye opener. You'll be surprise where your money goes.
To your debt-free life,
Jimmy
P.S. If you want a sample of an expense tracking notebook, I would love to give you one. write me a comment and your email addy and I will send you one.
Photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teegardin/5913014568/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30691679@N07/3252506530
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