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  • How To Use Financial Calculator Online For Financial Planning

    How To Use Financial Calculator Online For Financial Planning

    It is hard to really identify anything that the Coronavirus disease has not affected. The COVID-19 has spread across countries and continents and declared many lives. Because of nation-wide lockdowns, people have become unemployed and are trying to find ways to stretch and sustain their budgets. The declining economy, unreliability of markets, and massive unemployment have rendered chaos and tension among the public. 

    These unrivaled times have brought concerns about the narrowed income and the future. 

    Nonetheless, as Einstein said, “in the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity“, there are ways to deal with the current crises. To tackle these hard times, individuals and families carry out some steps to manage their budgets wisely. Although COVID-19 will continue to affect the world, a few smart measures can aid people to maintain their finances better.

    Websites like Calculator.me have tools that help customers manage their finances and budget by using free financial calculator tools. You can use the tools to sort out financial planning, clear off debts, manage your savings, and more. 

    How to use financial calculator

    How To Use Financial Calculator

    Consider the following steps if you are looking for ways to making your finance handling more clever and sustainable-

    Budgeting and frugal living 

    Frugal living doesn’t have to do with being stingy, depriving, or compromising yourself to save a few bucks here and there. It is more about living smarter and being ingenious. Frugal living focuses on saving your money wherever possible so that you can utilize it in more valuable things. You can make a frugal living with these methods:

    Improvise your food budget

    Cooking your meals instead of eating outside is far less expensive, and it can help in stretching your budget even more. You can also grow your own vegetables; buy less-expensive parts of meat, and try to minimize the expenses while eating out.

    Save money by embracing DIY.

    Dare yourself to create the things that you usually buy or to adjust with what you have, as opposed to buying new. Although it is more convenient to head to the shop, DIY is much cheaper. There are many online tutorials that can teach you DIY skills.

    Control your household expenses

    By getting frugal at home, you can save monthly electricity, water, cable, or phone bills. Also, you can be your own handyman when the need arises by consulting YouTube or other sites. The more money you save on these expenses, the more you can save for what is more valuable to you.

    There are many other factors like using coupons and freebies, taking care of your health, timely maintenance of your vehicle, and more that make your frugal style of living more effective. 

    To keep track of your budget and lifestyle, you can also use calculator tools from websites like Calculator.me.

    Use calculators for paying off loans early

    Some loans can be a real burden on one’s shoulders if they are not appropriately managed. Borrowing money from the wrong lender and at high interest rates and not repaying in time can cause a lot of trouble too. 

    You can take the help of a Loan Calculator to calculate your loan’s regular payment and total interest paid during the loan period. It is a tool that will guide you to keep track of your existing personal loans and help you clear them fast.

    If you are having a hard time managing your loans and clearing payments, it’s time for you to allow a calculator tool to take the wheel for loan amortization. The tool also shows the time and interest rates it will take for you to clear off a loan if you are opting for a new one. 

    With a loan payoff, calculator handling a loan makes it easier for you, which directly affects your overall finance management. 

    Various salary conversion tools

    Earning a good salary often misleads people into not thinking about their financial future. Sadly, people realize that their salary isn’t permanent only when their earning years come to an end. Guilty or not, you can always be aware and avoid this kind of situation by taking care of your finances and building a secure financial future. 

    While you can be determined to manage your salary on your own or with someone’s help, you can also opt for a tool like a salary conversion calculator. It is used to calculate and convert your wage or salary of one period into equivalent periodic terms. 

    For example, you can keep track of how much you are earning hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly by calculating your salary of a periodic term. The tool can also help you if you want to compare your present salary or wage to previous ones. 

    With a salary conversion tool, you can know everything about your salary, calculate quick estimates, convert annual salary from hourly wage, and vice versa. There are a lot of other benefits when you are well aware of how much you earn versus how much you spend. So consider using a salary conversion tool.

    free financial calculators

    Money-saving and investment calculators

    Saving money is a process most people find difficult, although it shouldn’t be when you’re doing it the smarter way. Here are some simple tips to help you save money:

    Limit your credit card usage– This is an essential factor as many people tend to over-use credit cards and build up their debts. Make sure you don’t get caught in that web and regularly pay the dues in full amount.

    Don’t delay paying your bills– You can avoid late fees and other unnecessary charges if you pay your bills on time.

    Clear your debts– The lesser debts you have, the less interest you will have to pay so that you can save more money. 

    Make a shopping list– While going for groceries, be sure you have a list of all the items you need for some time so that you won’t have to take extra trips to the store. Also, avoid buying things just because they are on sale.

    You should also negotiate prices when you can, lessen your phone expenses, and do many more small changes that can really affect your money-saving process. Above all, you need to set your mind into saving money to make the process a long-term habit. 

    The money-saving and investment calculator can show the benefits of saving-money. 

    You can calculate how much money you’re saving by replacing expensive products that you habitually buy with the less expensive one of equivalent quality. This Calculator also helps you see how much you could earn (interest) if you invested the money you are saving. 

    Through the money-saving Calculator, you can estimate the future value of your investment at different compounding terms. There is so much you can benefit by using a money-saving calculator as you can keep track of all your savings and investments and decide what to do best. 

    Retirement planning calculators

    Retirement may not sound serious when you are young; it is something you can easily ignore and think about later. But the problem with that is, life doesn’t always work according to your plans, and without a retirement plan, you put you and your loved ones in a compromised situation.

    Retirement could mean merely relaxing at your home, an afternoon nap, or for some, it is going on a trip with friends. And yes, these years are most-anticipated by hard-working people who work 8-10 hours every day.

    The thing about retirement is, it is an end to the regular struggle for wagers and salaried people. For you to be financially independent even after you retire, you need to have a pension plan. Everyone who wishes to enjoy a joyous and financial tension-free retired life will know why retirement planning is vital. 

    What is retirement planning?

    Retirement planning is a life-long process of setting income goals post-retirement and taking necessary actions to achieve those goals. It includes studying sources of income, approximating expenses, and devising a savings plan for the future. You can start planning your retirement anytime, but it is best if you do it sooner.

    Uses of retirement planning calculators

    Using a retirement planning calculator helps you figure out how much money aggregation is needed to maintain a financially comfortable retired life. It is a simple tool that lets you determine the amount of money you will require after you retire from work to enjoy a stress-free life.

    It takes personal details like your present age, current income, savings, life expectancy, and the desired retirement age. The money you need in the future to achieve your retirement goals is based on these details by the Calculator. The Calculator then helps you choose the ideal plan for you to invest in to grow your wealth for post-retirement plans. If you haven’t planned your pension plans and want to now, you can check out websites like Calculator.me, which provides the best savings and retirement plans.

    Loan calculator tools for personal loans, auto loans, mortgages, and mortgage refinance

    For you to deal with personal loans, auto loans, and mortgages, there are calculator tools that can make it easier and more systematic. 

    Personal loan calculator

    A personal loan calculator makes it easy for you to determine the monthly installments on your loan. Monthly installment is the key component that decides the tenure of your loan.

    The benefit of using a loan calculator is that you can calculate your pay-offs and EMI better, thus, having better loan planning. Calculator.me has user-friendly calculator tools that anyone can use easily. It shows loan options you can opt for and how to estimate the EMI annually or monthly, calculate the interest rates, in case you are planning to take a loan.

    Mortgage Calculator

    A mortgage calculator works out your mortgage’s monthly repayments built on the principal amount, balance, the interest rate, and the tenure of the loan. It also calculates your associated mortgage costs like taxes and insurance. Mortgage calculation can be done by handheld calculators as well as free software programs and online calculators. 

    Another benefit of using a mortgage calculator is that you can amortize your loans. Different types of loans depreciate in different ways, although the most common and general style is that loans amortize first with interest and later with the principal. Meaning, the borrower will eventually pay more interest than the actual borrowed amount. 

    If you have an opportunity to shorten the time of the mortgage, you should take it, as you can save a lot of interest while doing so. You can easily create your schedule for amortizing principal and interest with Calculator.me. By knowing the schedule and where your loan stands for the remaining period, you will have the advantage of budgeting and saving for the long run. 

    Auto loan calculator

    If you are interested in buying a car, you will have to make a variety of conclusions as you prepare to purchase it. Apart from choosing the right models, finance is also an important factor of concern.

    Unless you have enough extra cash, you need to borrow money to capitalize on big purchases. Before buying, you need to think about the cost of the vehicle, how to keep it running, and the timely servicing expenses. 

    Some people might be able to pay for the automobile at its entirety out of their pockets, but it is not the same case with everyone. The rest of us will need some financing options. So the things you need to consider while buying a car are down payments, loan term, rate of interest, and so on. 

    An auto loan calculator’s job is to help you choose the right car loan. You can calculate the monthly payment, interest rates, and the term of the loan with this calculator. Hence, it keeps you aware of the expenses and your investment in the automobile so that you can efficiently estimate and manage your overall budget. 

    As you finance and stretch your budget in these difficult times and try to save money, the factors mentioned above and points will help you make the best of what you have and lead a sustainable life. 

    It is crucial to have a calculator to aid you while you try to cut costs and save money in every possible way as it can help you determine your financial status better. So consider giving it a try. 

    While continuing your money-saving process, you might want to treat yourself from time to time. When you do so, keep your goals in mind so that you don’t over-spend. Saving money and controlling your finance is all well and good, but it all comes down to you- the way you think about spending. If you have set your mind to your goals, everything will pay off eventually.

    Financial tools

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  • 11 Greatest Hacks To Get Your Family Finances In Shape

    11 Greatest Hacks To Get Your Family Finances In Shape

    Do you ever think to yourself that you know you need to make a change with the way your family finances are operating? You recognize your way of doing things isn’t working anymore, but you have no idea where to start.

    You are not alone. This is a topic that a lot of people out there really want to know.

    Millions of people feel the same way.

    Managing family finances is not an easy task for many people. Especially if there are reasons that your current situation is changing.  Budgeting for a new baby, moving, kid going to college, etc.

    family finances

    Keep reading to get some helpful hacks to get your family finance situation going in the right direction.

    Personal finance is a hard topic to ask anybody else because that can be a little invasive. So it’s super difficult to find out where we are on the spectrum.

    Are we doing well at managing our own family’s finances compared to other people? Are we really far behind on where other people in the same age range are with managing family finance? There are some easy basic solutions to managing your family’s finances. That way you can be sure you are on a great path.

    Success of how well you are managing your family’s finances is measured solely on if it is working for you or not. Nobody else can tell you exactly what processes to use when managing your monies. 

    Every household is different, but there are a lot of guides that help a ton. Being knowledgeable of the do’s and don’ts of great money management skills will go a long way for you.

    How To Get Your Family Finances in Shape

    Here are some hacks to help get your household finances in shape.

    Table Of Contents

    1. Implement Basic Math

    This is an important step in money management. Honestly, I do simple 1st-grade math for every month, to manage my family’s finances.

    I have a spreadsheet of our bills. It includes:

    • The bill
    • The amount of the bill
    • The day it drafts out of our bank account

    When the bills come in my email or in the mail, I update my spreadsheet right away with the amount due for that bill for that month. The spreadsheet is actually on my iPhone.  I use Google Drive and sync it to my phone so my spreadsheet is readily available for edits.

    Then I simply add up all the bills. I get a total. This is your total expenses.

    Then I total our income for the month.

    Now I subtract. Subtract income minus expenses. Voila!

    That is the magic math that I use. Works like a charm and works every time.

    It’s quite an easy concept.

    Don’t forget when you are adding up your bills, to include your gas, groceries, eating out and savings account additions.

    Those are bills too ya know 🙂

    2. Use Averages

    A lot of people forget that expenses such as gas, eating out, groceries, etc, are large bills that “go out of your bank account” every month.

    Be sure to include these on your spreadsheet.

    So many times I hear people say they don’t know where their money is going because there is more month than money.

    This is a big reason why. They aren’t accounting for the eating out, groceries and gas.

    I know for me, these alone are large expenses for the month.

    In the beginning, when I was trying to figure out a system that worked for our family, I used a simple tactic that really helped a lot. I still use it from time to time now. At the end of each month, I would add up all our purchases in 3 categories. 

    Eating Out, Gas, Groceries. 

    Then, I wrote those numbers down and would do that again at the end of the next month.

    After a few months, I took an average. So, I took the number in each category, and added them up and divided by how many months I had a figure for.

    That is the number to this day, that I use on my spreadsheet for bills.

    I don’t look at my individual bills as much anymore. I primarily used the add function on my spreadsheet. I just need to know how much money is going to exit out of my bank account that month. And then, I subtract expenses from our household income. Now I know what we have leftover.

    Like I mentioned before, don’t forget to put a savings account on your list of bills. That needs to happen.

    3. Contribute to your Savings Account Automatically

    Contributing to your savings account is one of the most important things that you can do for your family’s financial situation.

    It does not have to be a lot of money that you are putting in. It just has to be something. That way you are in a good habit of putting some money away.

    When it comes to a time that you can put a higher amount away, you will already be in the habit.

    A lot of times, people do not necessarily put money into savings. They leave it in their checking account and just keep a higher balance in there.

    Keeping your savings separate, and in a different account is a good practice, and it’s something you should think about if you are already not doing that. 

    Some banks allow you to automatically draft money from your checking account into your savings account.

    You can pick what day of the month the draft happens, and what amount. It’s great because it’s out of sight, out of mind. You don’t have to consciously log into your online banking to make a transfer. It is automatically going to happen. 

    credit cards

    4. Pay more than Credit Card Minimums

    This one is self-explanatory. If you can swing it, pay more than the credit card minimums. That way your principal balance will start to come down.

    A lot of credit cards have such high-interest rates, that when you pay the minimum, you aren’t making much headway on the actual balance.

    If you can, open a 0% credit card and transfer your balance to it. Just beware of high balance transfer fees. 

    5. Have a ‘No Spend Day’

    I love these days, but they do not come around often enough!

    If you can eat all your meals at home one day, you are doing great. 

    Plan a place to have quality family time for your family that doesn’t involve spending money. Maybe take a walk, take a ride in the car, etc. 

    There are a lot of ideas out there. If you can have a few “no spend” days, you will want to repeat it and that can only help your family’s financial situation.

    CNBC has a motivating article on how someone saved a ton of money by having “no spend” days.

    Just do not be fooled into thinking you can spend more on another day because you saved money on a different day. Lol.

    6. Unsubscribe from Retail Emails

    When you are trying to manage your family finances better, temptation with enticing retail emails does not help. All it does is make you want to buy!

    Their marketing teams really do a good job of making you want to shop when you open their email. Or even if you see their store name in your inbox, it still tempts you to want to shop.

    I recommend unsubscribing from a majority of them. If you want to shop, you will shop. 

    You do not need a constant reminder of the sales, deals and beautiful products every time you open your email. You are trying to get your family’s finances in shape, and this is a good practice.

    7. Cut out extras

    Sometimes you have to come up with some creative financing. If you see on your spreadsheet that there are some items that you could remove from your spreadsheet, that would be a great feeling.

    So do it. Give your money management a makeover and slash unwanted expenses.

    Is it gourmet coffee and eating fancy lunches at work that’s becoming a hefty bill? 

    Is it credit card payments? If it’s credit card payments, open a 0% interest credit card and balance transfer for a small balance transfer fee. That way you are making headway on your principal balance.

    Is it too high of a grocery bill? There are tons of ways to cut money spent at the grocery store. You just have to meal plan, write out your shopping list and don’t shop more than once a week.

    Once you see what all your bills are, on paper, then you can get a good idea if you are impulsive spending on too many extras.

    After you establish if you are spending too much on “extras“, then you can cut some of those indulgences out. Just until your family’s finances are managed better. Then you can add them back in, as you can.

    No shopping

    8. Check it off

    Once a bill comes out of your bank account, put a checkmark next to that bill on your spreadsheet.

    This way, you can easily add up how much more money is going to go out of the account that month. This is nice because, at the snap of a finger, you can have a number for how much more money for bills will exit the account.

    There are many times I have wanted to know at a moment’s notice, how much more money will leave my bank account this month. With the spreadsheet, I can easily add it up quickly.

    This is quite handy around the holiday shopping season, and knowing what not to waste money on.

    9. Pay Yourself First

    This is a good practice to adopt. This means that putting money into your savings account every month.

    You work so hard to pay other creditors, so why not pay yourself?

    A savings account is so valuable because it is there as emergency funds. 

    How nice of a feeling is that?

    So how do you put money into savings when you already come up short in the month?

    Pay yourself first, meaning put your savings account as a bill on your excel spreadsheet.

    This is the second item on my own list, next to my mortgage. No need to overwhelm yourself thinking that if you can’t put $50 away then there’s no point.

    If you can do $10, do $10 and don’t eat fast food one day.

    You will start to get into a great habit of putting money aside and not spending it. As you get better at managing household finances, you will be able to put away more.

    Saving money takes practice. It’s just like anything else!

    10. Pre-Spend Your Money

    Huh? Let me explain.

    When you use a spreadsheet to see what your monthly bills are, add them up and get a total dollar amount.

    When you see that total dollar amount, that is essentially “pre-spending” your money. You already know where some of your money is going to, for that month. This is so very important that you take a look at this.

    Otherwise, you have less of an idea where your money is going during the month.

    financial planning

    11. Meeting with a Financial Planner

    It is always a good idea to meet with a financial planner to manage your household finances. They will make recommendations for investment accounts, retirement, college savings accounts, etc, based on your situation.

    You are never too young or too old, to take this step.

    Don’t think that because you may be lean on money during the month that you can’t still partake in putting money into retirement or college savings.

    There is always a way to put a few dollars away. 

    You can find a financial planner by:

    • Word of mouth
    • Asking your friends
    • Searching the internet

    I strongly recommend a financial planner. They will help you with things that you were not doing on your own. Check out this article from the balance.com on how to find the perfect financial planner.

    family finances pinterest

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    Andy Masaki

    Andy Masaki

    Guest Author

    Andy is a blogger at Penny Less Dad and a financial writer associated with the Oak View Law Group. He is a debt expert and a member of several online forums where he shares his advice as well as tips to lead a financially independent life.

    • How To Manage Your Money With Financial Blueprint

      How To Manage Your Money With Financial Blueprint

      Running your household finances can be overwhelming at times. Financial situations constantly change, therefore we have to adapt the way we run our family finances. Creating a financial blueprint is essential to having a smooth operation of your money.

      If you choose to put effort into broadening your financial knowledge, then your money situation can flourish.

      Having a blueprint could even help you make money.

      Planning is essential in laying a good framework for any situation. Not just financial.

      If you do not have a plan or a clear visual of your finances, it will be extremely difficult to know where you may need to make changes to the way you run your household finances.

      Questions such as, “is your financial situation where you like it to be”?

      Is it mediocre and could use a makeover?

      Or, is it not where you would like to see it, and you know you need to make some adjustments?

      Whatever the case may be, take a look at how you manage your family’s finances, and assess it. Just come up with an honest answer to yourself as far as if it needs to change or not.

      To be aware of your financial situation is a simple rule for conquering the successful management of your finances. A simple process is all you need to get on track.

      blueprint

      Create your Financial Blueprint to Make Money

      What is a financial blueprint?

      A blueprint is an outline of anything that needs to be constructed and is a vital part of building anything.

      Without a plan, how would you know how to build something? You pretty much wouldn’t. It would end up in chaos.

      So, managing your family’s finances is no different.

      A financial blueprint is a phrase referring to a plan you have regarding your household finances.

      It’s the kind of relationship that you have with money and how you interact with money.

      When people say that they are struggling financially, a lot of times its due to a lack of planning and understanding.

      Your blueprint just has to be some kind of outline to let you know what your goals are, and what needs to happen to achieve them. It helps you to build a solid foundation, in which you can create a healthy relationship with money.

      Why do you need a financial blueprint?

      financial

      Having a foundation for managing your finances is imperative for any household. Not only does it map out your financial goals, and provide a list of expenses vs. income, it provides insight as to how you think about money and how much money you have.

      A blueprint basically lays on the table where you are today, where you want to be in the future and then how you are going about getting there.

      Our situations change all the time, so it’s good to refer back to your plan periodically.

      Your outline will help you with your financial decision-making and how you are going to change your behaviors in order to achieve your goals.

      As with anything, you need methods and strategies clearly defined, so that you know what you are supposed to be doing with your money.

      Another reason that it’s important to have a good outline of your financial situation is that it will keep you from making oversights when it comes to doing items with your finances.

      An example of a simple oversight that could turn into being a huge mistake is having a spouse listed as your beneficiary on retirement accounts after a divorce. Or not having your children listed as beneficiaries or other people you want listed.

      If you are looking at your financial plan periodically, you will see these to-do items and get it taken care of.

      How your money blueprint affects others

      money

      Quite honestly, your money blueprint affects way more people in your life than just yourself.

      Did you ever notice that your own thoughts about money are stemmed from how money was handled when you were growing up?

      Whether you came from a challenging financial childhood or a comfortable financial lifestyle, it has directly affected your own relationship with money.

      You may say to yourself, wow, I grew up in a home where we financially struggled and I do not want to live like that as an adult.

      Or, you may have grown up in a well off home life, and thought to yourself that you would love to maintain that same lifestyle as an adult.

      Or you may think that you do not like living with a lot of high-end items and you would prefer to lead more of a minimalist lifestyle.

      Whatever your opinions may be, it has been molded by your childhood experiences with money.

      So how does your own money plan affect other people?

      It goes to show that the children that you are raising in your own home are going to be directly affected by seeing and watching the financial decisions that you make.

      If you want your kids to grow up having a healthy relationship with money and make good decisions, they have to see you do it.

      Even if you and your partner are struggling financially, you do not have to keep voicing to the kids that you don’t have money for this or money for that.

      On the flip side, it is extremely healthy for you to let the kids know that you may be on a budget.

      That instills good values in the kids to let them know that you can’t impulsively spend on everything you want.

      It just isn’t great, if the kids are constantly hearing negatively about money.

      You want them to grow up knowing that the family may be on a tight budget, but that is all the more reason to work hard for things you want to spend on.

      Some questions your blueprint should cover

      planning

      In order to know how to create a good financial foundation, you have to know what questions you need to be answering.

      Coming up with the questions is just as important as the answer. This is because, if you are truly trying to put yourself in a better financial situation, you need to be asking yourself the right information.

      For example, it is not as relevant if you have a question on your blueprint about how much money you want to have at retirement. The more relevant question may be, how much can I save per month towards retirement.

      Your long term goals can be the dollar amount that you want in your retirement accounts in decades to come.

      Your blueprint is more of a big picture of what’s going on in your financial situation now and in the short term future.

      1. What roles do the other people that share money with you have?

      2. Does one of you need to get impulsive spending under control?

      3. Do you just need to cut a few expenses out that can be controlled?

      4. Is spending not an issue, but you could be better at putting money in a savings account?

      5. Are you a spender or a saver?

      6. Should you combine finances with your partner, or not?

      7. What is your opinion on investing?

      8. What is your situation with work?

      9. What kinds of things can you cut out of your monthly budget and what can you not live without?

      10. Are you willing to take financial risks?

      These questions will help you gain a much more clear understanding of your big picture.

      It’s basically a way to have you think about what all is involved in your financial belief system. These are things most of us don’t really think about too much, so when you sit down to make a financial plan and goals for yourself, you can start to dig deep into what you believe.

      That will help you have a better situation with money today and in the future.

      Without a plan, your money is potentially not being managed well at all.

      This could lead to extra spending that you aren’t realizing you are doing. Or, it could lead to a lean savings account when you could have had extra money to put in it.

      Tip:

      Be honest to yourself if you need to cut spending on some “extras” during the month.

      Example of a financial blueprint

      A great example of a financial blueprint would be an excel spreadsheet.

      • List out all your bills
      • Put accurate amounts for your bills or take averages
      • List your savings account as a bill – contribute to it
      • Get involved in investments and list that out as a bill
      • List groceries, eating out and gas as bills
      • Total your spreadsheet and subtract from how much income comes into the household
      • This is your leftover money for the month

      Now you know exactly what that month’s expenses total, compared to how much income is brought into the household. This is crucial information that you can use to plan your month financially.

      Understand your blueprint

      understand

      This is the number 1 rule in learning how to manage your family’s finances. You must understand the blueprint that you made. This is not always going to be a task that you really want to do, but it is necessary. You must take a hard look at your situation and know the answer to a few questions.

      Understanding exactly what your monthly expenses are and how much income will be brought in that month, is key. Once you have that knowledge, you can financially plan your month accordingly.

      This all goes into how you can make money in your month. Understanding and having a financial blueprint helps you not spend too much money in your month and helps you follow a plan. This, in turn, helps you have more money in your month because you are not spending impulsively. You also have your financial goals in front of you so you are more likely to stick to your plan.

      How do you make money by having a financial blueprint for your money?

      make money

      The answer is simple. If you know where your money is going each month, then you can save money and that means you are making money. You may be spending on extras that you didn’t realize you were spending on. Or impulsively spending, and you didn’t even think about it.

      Once you got all of your expenses written down, it will bring your attention. Now, that you are aware of some impulse spending going on, you can make a plan as to when you spend on those items. Check out this article on how to cut your monthly expenses and your spending. Now your financial blueprint is taking shape and you are seeing more money in your bank account before your next payday.

      Creating your blueprint doesn’t have to be stressful

      1. You assessed your situation on how you manage your family’s finances.

      2. You came up with an answer of if it needs a makeover or not.

      3. You understood your blueprint of what needs to happen to be on a good track.

      All these things do not have to be stressful. How do you eat bread? Yep, one bite at a time. Just keep that mindset. You do not need to overwhelm yourself with how to manage your family’s finances. You just need to understand it!

      Hopefully, these guidelines gave you some good tools in your tool belt to get a good solid plan to manage your finances.

      Related Posts:

      Andy Masaki

      Andy Masaki

      Guest Author

      Andy is a blogger at Penny Less Dad and a financial writer associated with the Oak View Law Group. He is a debt expert and a member of several online forums where he shares his advice as well as tips to lead a financially independent life.

      • How To Stretch Your Budget When You Are A Single Parent

        How To Stretch Your Budget When You Are A Single Parent

        Not everyone can get along well, being a single parent.
        Responsibilities are beyond normal understanding, and the mental strength required is unparalleled to stereotypical parenting!

        With that being said, single parents must have a firm grip over their finances, and track their income minutely, while factoring each and every section of savings and expenditure. And for doing so, one should have a stretchable and handy single parent budget!

        This post is meant to describe the aspect of getting hold of a budget that you can stretch as per your own terms while being a single parent!

        So, here are some points that you need to go through if you want a flexible and stretchable budget to function at its best.

         How to stretch your budget 

        Always have those extra savings for unexpected expenses

        No matter what budget you are aiming to use, an additional savings vault is always necessary for tackling all sorts of unexpected and unplanned expenses.

        The biggest reason for having this savings structure is to fight medical expenses and obviously any type of uncalled for situations that pop up in our lives every now and then. Examples can range between anything from your child’s surprise announcement of a school trip, to your car breaking down one sunny morning.

        Using credit every time for compensating these emergency expenses might not be profitable! So, whatever is your income, you should be focused toward building a separate savings amount.

        And, don’t mix it up with your general savings!

        Habits are important before you plan to stretch a budget

        Budgeting is good, but it can’t help you if your financial habits are lame and gross. A good money personality is a primary requirement for achieving financial freedom.

        You must have the mentality to double your savings as much as you can. And, staying away from debts should be an optimum priority.

        If you constantly fall into debts and have the tendency to rely on debts every time you run low on cash, instead of skipping the expenses altogether, then no budget can save you.

        Stretching a budget is a mere terminology, as your income is fixed, and all you are doing is expanding and contracting expenses as per your needs.

        Therefore, debts are definitely something you should not indulge into.

        So, what can you do with debts?

        You need to use credit cards, only in cases of emergency, and for buying objects that will profit you over time.

        The same gets applied to personal loans and other forms of unsecured debts. And, make it a commitment, never to take out payday loans, even if you are having tough times and are running cashless!

        Payday loans are traps, and it’s very difficult to get out of them, as they have incredibly high-interest rates, that surely drains out heavy amounts of cash, from a consumer.

        Learn to compare debts based on their character and interest rates. Not all debts are equal, and not all debts are good to have in your money portfolio.

        Secured debts like mortgages and all are considered to be investment vehicles, but credit cards, payday loans, and other unsecured debts are typically deemed as unprofitable and waste of money.

        Therefore, prior to starting out with a budget, you need to materialize some good money behaviors, like:

        • Using cash for most of your purchases and transactions.
        • Keeping those credit cards locked up, only to be used for emergency purposes, and for replacing other high-interest debt tools, like when possible transferring your payday loan debt into credit card debt, or paying off medical bills, and all.
        • Teaching your kids about money management from an early age, and not influencing an expensive mindset.
        • And, last but not the least, maintaining the continuous act of saving money, even by squeezing out pennies from a low income.

        Follow a budget, that really works out as planned

        Any random budget does not provide enough options to stretch it as you want. Most of the budgets come in a fixed format, that might not be manipulated too much. And, if you manipulate, then the budget won’t function well or will become a different budget altogether.

        Like, say for example, you are using a 50-20-30 budget, where 50% of your income is to be kept for normal monthly expenses, 20% is for savings, and the rest 30% will be used for luxury or other emergency expenses.

        Even though you can manipulate the percentage figures, but increasing one section will decrease the other two. One month, if you increase the savings percentage, then you have to reduce the monthly expense section or the luxury/emergency expense section.

        It might look that it’s not a big deal, but as the month progresses, you will be facing severe difficulties.

        Hence, the best budget for you will be something that is not limited by percentage figures, or fixed allocations.

        single parent

        The best budget for you is the Zero Based Budget

        In this budget, there are no fixed percentages or a stable format that will be controlling how your income gets distributed to the various expenses or monetary obligations for a month.

        In this budget, you will decide what expenses you wish to have for a month, and how much amount you will dedicate to each of them.

        The name is Zero Based Budget because it brings down the difference between your total income and total expense to zero.

        This is how the budget works. Based on the idea from a previous month, you will be listing down all the expenses you might typically have in the current month.

        Any expense that you feel is not mandatory; you can skip it out easily by not listing it in your expense sheet.

        To remember, you should also consider savings as a part of your expenses, since that will also take out a portion of your income. So, define set amounts for each of the expenses, and sum it up to see the total expense amount you got to deal with, in the month.

        If this amount is higher than your income, then you need to reduce your expenses or lower the dedicated amounts for each of the expenses.
        And, if the total expense amount is less than your income, then you can plan anything you want with the leftover.
        If the amount is equal to your total income, then revise your budget once again, and finalize it for the month.

        Once the budget gets fixed, you cannot derail from it, unless an emergency expense pops up!

        Oh! Well yes! I guess I already told you at the beginning of the post to always keep a dedicated amount for unplanned expenses beyond your normal savings behavior. Pay attention to that.

        You can’t expect to tackle a heavy unplanned expense with one savings vehicle, or a stand-alone income!

        You are a single parent, and you probably have only one stream of income. In that case, you should never skip the unexpected savings amount. And nevertheless, you should always try to earn more with side hustles.

        More is the income, and less headache will it be for you.

        That’s all you had to know about following a stretchable budget. Use it as you want, but be sure to revise your budget each month for better results.

         

        Related Posts:

        Andy Masaki

        Andy Masaki

        Guest Author

        Andy is a blogger at Penny Less Dad and financial writer associated with the Oak View Law Group. He is a debt expert and a member of several online forums where he shares his advice as well as tips to lead a financially independent life.

        • How To Get Out Of Debt Fast

          How To Get Out Of Debt Fast

          Do you feel like you just can’t get ahead with your debt? You work so hard all week long to earn a paycheck, and it never seems like it’s enough to clear your debt. It can be a very deflating feeling. You need a get out of debt plan.

          You are paying minimum balances on your credit cards, and the amount owed never seems like it’s going down. What gives?

          There is 1 main step that you can do, to start tackling your debt and paying it down. I am going to show you all about that one step and how you can use it to get out of debt.

          If you want to know a few other tactics that you can use to start eliminating your debt and some strategies you can use to pay off your debt and prevent it from happening again, then keep reading.

          First, let’s lay the foundation of healthy ways to handle your household money. Without a solid game plan and foundation, you will still feel like you are spinning tire with your finances.

          How to get out of debt fast

          Surefire Ways To Get Out of Debt Fast On Your Own

          Here are some great ways you can get on an effective path to clearing your debt.

          Understand and confront your debt

          The most important step in laying a foundation to pay off debt is to understand what all you owe.

          There is no easy path to managing your debt if you do not have an understanding of what all you have outstanding.

          Here’s how you can start to organize your debt:

          • Make a list of everything that you owe and how much
          • On your list, include the interest rate
          • Write down your minimum payments
          • Write down the due dates
          • Take the time to look up your usernames and passwords to your credit cards and loans so that you can get the information you need.

          If you take the time to write this all down in front of you, it will allow you to see the big picture of your situation. It could also alleviate some feelings of overwhelm because you can see it all in one spot.

          Take the initiative to pull your credit report so that you can see who all your creditors are and how much you owe.

          Get organized to get out of debt quickly

          Now that you have a good understanding of what all you owe, you can organize what day of the month you pay them. This will help you avoid late payments because you won’t forget to pay it.

          • Update your email address on your accounts that you owe the balances to. This will help those companies stay in touch with you so that you don’t miss any important communications.
          • Take the time to go through your statements and be certain that there aren’t any errors as far as charges.
          • Have a good plan as far as what day you make your payments. You can coordinate with when you get paid.

          Beware of doing all this work to make a good list to get organized, and then not ever referring to it again. You need to look at your list from time to time.

          It will also feel empowering when you get to change the amounts of your debts on your list. You should do that about every 3 months.

          Use a calendar system so that you do not forget to pay some of these debts per month. You can set them up online for automatic payments, or do one-time payment every month, etc.

          Using some kind of phone reminder, or written down on a calendar somewhere is going to be imperative.

          If you forget to make a payment, do not wait until it is due again next month. By that time, it is possible that the creditor already reported it to the credit bureau.

          Instead, make the payment as soon as you remember.

          How to get out of credit card debt

          How to get out of Credit Cards Debt

          Take a look at all your credit cards that have balances on them, and see which one has the highest interest rate.

          The one that has the highest rate, is the one that is eating up a lot of your hard-earned money.  The higher the interest rate, the harder it is to get rid of the balance owed.

          What do I mean by that?

          This means that more of your money that you pay on this card each month, is going toward a lot of interest instead of the principal balance. Ugh! Not what you wanted to hear huh.

          Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to tackle this debt. Credit card debt can be tough to get under control. Actually, managing your family’s finances, in general, is tough. There are some easy basic solutions that do exist, for how to manage your family’s finances.

          Let’s talk about that 1 step that is instrumental in getting rid of credit card debt.

          Tackle Your Card that has the Highest Interest Rate

          A great plan to tackle credit card debt is to go after the highest interest rate card that you have.

          In the long run, if you end up making payments on a smaller interest rate card, you are still making headway. However, you are then not taking full advantage of how you could be using your money.

          It is better to tackle that high-interest card and get that taken care of.

          Make the minimums on your other cards, and go after the higher rate card as aggressively as you can.

          You will save a lot of money by knocking out this high-interest card.

          Tip:

          Attack one credit card at a time. Pay the minimums on other cards and put all extra money you have, aggressively onto the highest interest rate card.

          Request A Lower Interest Rate

          Call your credit card company and ask them to do a review of your account and request a lower interest rate. A lot of times, you are due for an account review anyhow, and you can potentially secure a lower rate with the company.

          If you do not take the time to call and ask them, then it will never happen. A credit card company will usually not mail you a letter to tell you that they lowered your rate. So, you have to take the initiative and call and ask them. The worst that can happen is that your request is denied.

          If you succeed in this and get a lower rate, then you are well on your way to getting that card paid off! Even more of your monthly payment will be going toward your principal balance now, Woot! That’s the goal!

          Check out this article that has a great script for what to say when you call the company to ask them to lower your rate.

          Tip:

          Don’t assume a credit card company won’t give you a lower rate. Take the initiate and call to ask them.

          Don’t Use Your Cards

          Have you ever heard the expression, cut your cards? Ok, well, cut your cards!

          If you are trying to get rid of your credit card debt, then do not use them anymore. It will defeat the purpose of making your payments. Most credit cards have such high-interest rates, that it’s hard enough to get your balance to come down after making a payment.

          If you continue to make purchases on your cards, then any payment you make is going to be negated by a purchase. So, don’t do it! It is so easy to be an impulsive spender, and just “put it on the card”. We have all done that.

          Since you are trying to get your credit cards under control, you have to make some adjustments to spending habits.

          shopping

          Change the habits that got you into debt

          A really good place to start getting out of debt is to stop doing whatever it was that got you into debt. For some people, it was not avoidable. But for others, it was definitely avoidable. If you are in the category of, it could have been avoided, be honest with yourself about how it got like that.

          Then change those behaviors.

          Keep accounts in good standing

          We all understand that there is only so much paycheck to go around. It is difficult to repay balances that have already gone to collections.

          Keep the accounts that are in good standing, good. Those are the ones to focus on and where to apply money to.

          If you try to pay the collection items and charge offs first, then you risk not having enough money to make payments on the accounts that are good.

          Then what could happen is that those good accounts start to have late payments and such.

          So, focus on the good accounts over the ones that are already not good.

          Cut Spending

          There are some ways that you can adopt more of a frugal lifestyle in order to help get out of debt.

          Here are some ideas for what you can skimp on:

          • The cable. We live in a society where so many movies and tv shows can be found online now. Why not cut the cable bill and use that money to put towards paying your monthly debts.
          • Eat at home more. Meal planning and grocery shopping should be your new best friend. I know so many people say they are terrible at meal planning. If you just spend 20 min every Sunday to pick out what your family is going to eat for the week, you can make a grocery list and go shop. Then you can cut the eating takeout expense.
          • Save with coupons. Take the time to use coupon apps on your phone to help you find deals in your local grocery stores.
          • Break up with expensive habits or hobbies. Tobacco use, gourmet coffee, fast food, lottery tickets. Whatever it is, stop doing it for right now so that you can help yourself get out of debt.
          • Find free ways to have fun. The library has DVDs, books and tons of other stuff you can sign out. For FREE! If you join your local community email list, they are always advertising free things going on in the community.
          • Have as many “no spend” days as you can. Pack your lunch for work, cook dinner at home and don’t spend money on anything else that day.
          • Explain to your family that you are on a budget. Once you explain to everyone in the house that your spending is going to change, they are more apt to get on board.
          • Tell your kids no. Once you explain to them that the family is on a budget, don’t buy them whatever they want, whenever they want.
          • Shop for clothing at discount stores. Plenty of towns have consignment shops or other awesome places to shop that is for a fraction of the cost of a department store.
          • Use Facebook marketplace to find free stuff. People are always posting items for free. Take advantage of it.
          • Sell some stuff. You can sell some items in your house that you could spare. Hit up online resources or even have a yard sale.

          Hopefully, you have some tools in your tool belt that are going to help you tackle your debt. Being in debt causes a lot of emotions such as overwhelm, frustration and a whole slew of other ones.

          Just be sure that you are working hard and smart to correct your situation, and you will come out great.

          Keep your financial goals in front of you and it will strike great motivation for you to keep plugging away.

          Andy Masaki

          Andy Masaki

          Guest Author

          Andy is a blogger at Penny Less Dad and a financial writer associated with the Oak View Law Group. He is a debt expert and a member of several online forums where he shares his advice as well as tips to lead a financially independent life.