Rule Breakers: When It Comes To Saving Money, All Bets Are Off

Saving money can be a cutthroat endeavor, something of a game of chance and survival all rolled into one, and as much as you want to follow along with what you think and believe to be gospel as far as how to achieve success, you can’t take anything off the table when you’re discussing your financial future.

For starters, some would argue that your budget has to include things that you enjoyed, well, before you realized that you needed a budget. While you can be all for reveling in what life has brought forth to you, that doesn’t mean some hard decisions can be overlooked or completely ignored as a result.

So for as much as you reason with yourself that you can’t cancel your cable or you have to make sure you have a vacation fund, those things are disposable and should be dealt with once you’ve lined up several other important factors when you think about your money situation.

Are you paying more than the minimum payment on your credit card bills?

Are you saving five to 10 percent per paycheck and putting it into a savings account?

What about thoughts of retirement, college funds and other important money decisions looming large?

Considering all of those questions and even more, quite frankly, takes precedence over making sure you have the latest and greatest gadgets for your home, a flat screen TV or that your toes will be dipped in the sand next summer. The fact remains that budgeting is meant to be enacted to save money, not spend it or allot into other areas that simply aren’t of the greatest importance.

The other element at play here centers squarely on yourself, most notably the fact that we tend to put undue pressure on ourselves when it comes to saving money, and in turn, we flop quite easily. Saving money has to be a process, a race, not a sprint or a get rich quick scheme. The sooner you realize that getting out of debt, saving a large amount of money in a nest egg or paying bills on time and budgeting, the better off you’ll be overall in your financial standing moving forward.

You also can’t be afraid to think about other ways to earn money, a second job, working from home or selling what you don’t use or need at the moment for extra cash. Yes, you’ll miss your brand new, overly expensive car but if selling it can and getting something older can give you some breathing room and a head start, then make it happen.

All bets are off when it comes to saving money, and just when you think something is untouchable, you reach out and change it for the better.