Does your household
budget support your monthly finances or are you finding that sometimes there is
just "too much month for your money"? Seeking the help of a payday
loan for a little extra cash to get through the month is not a bad thing unless
your budget doesn't support paying it back. It can at times be difficult to
manage your money, even with the help of a short-term loan. But when you
understand how to handle your money and can maintain control of your financial
budget, a few simple fixes may be all you need to get back on track and work
towards a payday loan payoff.
The first thing to
know about managing money is that it takes a budget. While the act of making a
budget is not all that hard, some people don't like to sit down and face the
realities of how much money comes in and goes out of their finances each month.
Once you can get a handle on how much you make and spend on a monthly basis, it
will be a lot easier to payday off your payday loan as well as any other bills
you have weighing you down. The first step in doing so is gathering the past
three months worth of bank, credit card, and loan statements. This will help
you determine how much you have spent over the past three months by adding up
all of your costs and dividing that amount by three to get an average. Have you
discovered that you are spending more than you make? It doesn't seem possible
but that's what happens when you have to take out short-term loans, borrow from
credit cards, or delay car payments because your cash flow is coming up short.
Once you have come to
terms with how much you actually spend every month, create spending categories
for all of your expenses. It's always wise to have a "miscellaneous"
category that allows for those periodic or unexpected expenses; perhaps a fast
cash payday advance. Also, create a category for regular car maintenance,
visits to the dentist or anything else that you do annually, semi-annually, or
even tri-annually.
Next, determine the
difference between the "wants" and "needs" in your
spending. This is a tough one even for the best of budgets. A mortgage or rent,
utilities, food and gas are all needs. Those are things you most likely cannot
cut from your budget. Cable TV, fancy cell phones, and gourmet coffee every
morning are, on the other hand, something that you should be able to live
without. You may have to bite the bullet so to speak and cut some of those
items from your spending. The money you save by foregoing certain items can
help with a payday loan payoff or maybe even prevent the need to borrow in the
first place.
Also, take a look at
your credit card statements to determine what kind of strain using your credit
cards has put on your budget. These handy plastic purchasing tools can come
with a high price in the form of interest. In the long run you will end up
paying a lot more for what you buy if you can't pay off your balance every
month. The sooner you pay off your credit cards, the sooner you will have more
money in your budget every month. If anything, pay more than your minimum
payment but remember that paying off your payday loan has to be a priority as
well. If you can't pay cash for an item, then you probably can't afford it!
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