Steps to Saving Money or Getting out of Debt

A poll was set up at the bottom of my blog asking my viewers to rank what their highest money priorities were for 2010. Even though voting doesn't seize until next month, we can see so far a majority of voters elected to pay down debt. I would like to thank all of you that participated so far in this poll.

It is interesting to see that people get hyped with money resolutions once New Year hits. But statistic shows that often times most people abandon such goals within a few months once their “moneymoon” stage (as I would call it) is over. There are others that only make it pass a few weeks. So here we are barely the 2nd week of February 2010 and the feeling of the New Year celebration seems so far behind us. Therefore, I am here to remind not only MYSELF but YOU the faithful FB viewers to not lose sight of these money goals.

To make these money resolutions stick, it’s important to take baby steps toward your goal. As with anything in life such as dieting, recovering from an addiction, or trying to better oneself, it’s important to set your sight on it one step at a time and don’t lose focus. Next thing you know by year end, you would be alot richer and that mountain of debt will either be out of sight or more scalable.

Here's a tip or two as my approach.

BEEE SPECIFIC - Like a bee, map out your honey route. Come up with the amount of honey you want to dispense or save for the whole year. Once you have that magical number, dissect it into smaller monthly goals, then weekly ones, and finally a daily goal. Thus, the number will not look too BIG or too daunting and you won’t need to fly around with all that honey.

KEEP TRACK OF SPENDING & SAVING - Tracking your daily spending is an important exercise in financial management. Just like how a bee tracks where they have deposited their honey in a honeycomb. If you don’t know where it all goes, you won’t know how to plug up the holes! On the flipside, tracking your saving at the end of each day is helpful as well. Then at the end of each week, add it all up. It’s important to be able to see figuratively the progress you’re making. Make it a habit to keep a money diary on paper or by a mental estimated calculation.

USE YOUR HONEY JAR AS A CHANGE BANK - It’s practical and you can find one in your house. Each time you pay cash on something, you’ll be sure to find change lying around in your wallet. Empty out the loose change and accumulate them into the jar. It doesn’t necessarily have to be coins, it can also be bills. I like to sneak in a few dollar bills or even bigger bills from time to time. By folding the bill since they’re all colored green, it will keep as a suspense when the time comes to count up your savings.