Change for the Good

Over the past few days we've been talking about why you need a budget, and keeping track of where your money is going--all in an effort to figure out how you can reach your goal. Now it's time to institute some changes in your spending habits to help you do just that.

1. Go line by line on your expense sheet. Highlight or somehow mark items that are not necessary. Is it necessary to spend $20 per week on coffee from you local coffee shop? What about the $30 trips to the DVD store? Probably not.

2. Once you slash out spending that isn't necessary, start to look for areas where you can cut back. For example, do you need a home phone with the complete package when everyone calls you on your cell phone, and you always call them using your cell phone too? You have 800 channels on TV, but only watch about a dozen of them? Is it time for a smaller package?

3. Trade in your credit and debit for cold hard cash. You probably wound up in credit card debt, or in an unknowing state of where your money is going because of credit and debit cards. Start using cash instead of credit and debit. That means if you don't have enough cash to buy it, then don't.

Now add up all of your savings and see how much money you have to put toward your goal.