Ok, now you will show your expenses worksheet to your family.
All of your family needs to know when you are in trouble. Show the numbers, even for your kids.
Remember to be very clear in all of your points, explain every single bill to every family member.
This meeting needs to be periodically (a month is a good idea to start), and your family needs to solve some questions:
- How to lower debt?
- How to cut expenses?
- How to bring more money to home?
Now I will show some tips to decrease the bleeding: (in the next post we will talk about goals, but first it is very important to cut debts)
You need to be committed! All the sections below that are in bold are not optional! They are mandatory!
- Take your credit cards out of your wallet now! (without money it is impossible to buy for impulse)
- Keep less money in your wallet
- Start to eat more in home
- Bring your lunch from home
- Stop to buy brand clothes
- Stop to buy brand foods, there are alternatives
- Go to supermarket with a limited amount of money in your wallet, and always with a list! Don’t buy anything that it is not in your list!
- Cut your expensive entertainments
- Buy used books, DVDs, games
- Start to use internet to communicate with friends, stop to use phone and avoid cell phones. Be objective in your calls.
- Eat before to go to the supermarket
- Drink water, not soda or coffee (it is good for your health)
- Check banks with lowest fees
- Switch to fluorescent light bulbs and switch off every device that is not in using
- Buy generic drugs
- Sell a second car (pay less insurance, repairs, fuel)
- Move to a lower-cost region
- How long do you stay in the shower?
- Take a bus to go to work and school
- Bargain and research before to buy
- Make a huge garage sale once a six months
- It is possible to rent out a room of your home or get a roommate?
- Work with only one bank
I am sure that it is perfectly possible to save a huge amount of money doing the list above.
Remember:
- You need to be a control freak!
- You need to have discipline and follow this list!